Catching viruses like the flu for young ones can protect them from contracting allergies like asthma later in life, according to a new study.

The study further points out that today's kids are much too clean for their own well being because their immune systems might over-react if they don't have ample viruses to fight earlier on.

The study gives evidence that a rising number of children in even the developed nations are suffering from allergies not because they are exposed to bacteria and viruses, but rather because they are not exposed to enough bacteria and viruses in their initial stages. This has been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In the newest research, the scientists from Harvard Medical School experimented and found out those baby mice which were infected with the influenza A virus developed into adults which were protected against the induced symptoms of the disease.

But the adult animals contracting the flu continued to be susceptible to asthma. The researchers of the study traced the effect to a sub group of immune system cells known as the natural killer T-cells (NKT cells), which control the immune system under control and stop extreme reactions resulting in allergies like asthma.