Allergies & Asthma

A first-in-class drug under development for severe asthma passed what its developers hope is the final test: achieving its primary endpoint in a phase III registration trial dubbed NAVIGATOR and now reported in a major journal. Tezepelumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), cut the annualized rate of asthma exacerbations by more than

A novel gene therapy for severe combined immunodeficiency from adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA-SCID) restored immune cell counts without death or need for enzyme replacement therapy, researchers reported. Survival without needing to re-initiate pegylated ADA enzyme replacement therapy, or have a rescue allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHCT), was 95% to 97% at last follow-up at

You might think that when asthma patients were switched involuntarily from regular insurance to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), a substantial number would cut corners on their daily controller medications — but you would mostly be wrong, researchers said. In fact, in a study of some 185,000 pediatric and adult patients with asthma spanning 2002 to

The 24-hour news cycle is just as important to medicine as it is to politics, finance, or sports. At MedPage Today, new information is posted daily, but keeping up can be a challenge. As an aid for our readers and for a little amusement, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the

Rather than site-wide food bans or allergen-restricted zones, allergy training, action plans, and available epinephrine to treat suspected anaphylaxis are recommended to address allergic reactions to food at child care centers and schools, according to new practice guidelines. Not only has research found little evidence that food bans work, such restrictions can pose monitoring and

Contents of baby’s first stool were a biomarker for early-life allergy risk in a study of 100 infants. Infants who developed IgE-mediated atopy by age 1 showed a significantly poorer environment in their meconium — the fecal matter accumulated prior to birth and typically expelled within a few days of delivery — for microbiotal development

Presentation At her 8-year-old son’s regular check-up, a mother asked the pediatrician to look at a skin condition that developed rather suddenly about a month ago. He had a few groups of follicular scaly papules bilaterally on his knees and elbows. They didn’t seem to bother him at all, but since he is prone to

As the world starts to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, another global — and even more devastating — existential threat persists: climate change. Worldwide, climate-driven disasters including storms, droughts, fires, and floods displaced more than 10 million people since last September. Here in the western U.S., we face increasingly catastrophic wildfire seasons with powerful effects

Note that some links may require registration or subscription. A new coronavirus variant, BV-1, has been discovered in Texas. (Fox News) The European Medicines Agency said it found a “possible link” between the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and blood clots and recommended that a warning be added to the vaccine’s label, but they also

A team of Mount Sinai surgeons in New York City earlier this year performed the world’s first human tracheal transplant surgery, the health system announced this week. News of the procedure’s success already has other patients taking note. To date, surgeons have been unable to transplant the trachea — an organ essential for speaking, breathing,

A graded dosing protocol allowed two patients with hypersensitivity reactions to the first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to receive their second doses safely, researchers said. The patients — one with an immediate hypersensitivity reaction managed on site and one needing emergency department transport — got divided second doses, reported S. Shahzad Mustafa, MD, of

A short-term rise in nitrogen dioxide air pollution could be tied to a bump in local mortality rates the next day, researchers showed in a large international study. Across 398 cities (located mostly in the U.S., Europe, and Asia), each 10 μg/m3 increase in ground-level NO2 concentration was associated with increases in mortality the next

“We’re going to be in a ‘Pinkalicious phase’ for the next few months.” — Chris Martin, MD, MSc, of West Virginia University School of Public Health, quoting surprisingly apt advice from the popular children’s book series and applying it to potentially choosing one’s COVID vaccine. “It is sloppy and lazy to lump cladribine and alemtuzumab

Black and Hispanic children have a higher risk for developing food allergies compared with white children, and studies suggest they may also have a significantly higher risk for anaphylaxis and death due to allergic food reactions. African-American, Hispanic, and other minority children are also greatly underrepresented in food allergy clinical trials, and a new analysis

Asthma patients with confirmed COVID-19 were no more likely to require hospitalization or mechanical ventilation than patients without asthma, researchers found. Moreover, the asthma patients were less likely to die from COVID, reported Lacey Robinson, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, at the virtual annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma &

Patients who experienced an allergic reaction to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could potentially be eligible to receive the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, CDC staff said on a Tuesday call with clinicians. Currently, patients can be eligible to receive the Johnson & Johnson adenovirus vaccine after receiving one dose of mRNA vaccine only in special circumstances,

Wide adoption of infant feeding guidelines calling for peanut introduction during the first year of life in Australia prompted a significant decline in child peanut allergies in that country, researchers reported. In 2016, guidelines in Australia were changed to recommend the introduction of potentially allergic foods such as peanut butter, cooked eggs, dairy, and wheat

Inhaled budesonide (Pulmicort), a steroid generally used to treat asthma, dramatically reduced the need for hospitalization in COVID-19 patients within a week of symptom onset, a small randomized trial in the U.K. found. Among 139 patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms, 10 in the control group required either a COVID-19-related urgent care or emergency department (ED)

“The rooster isn’t causing the sun to come up.” — Paul Offit, MD, of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, commenting on how a physician who died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine does not imply a causal relationship between the two events. “He knows about EHR [electronic health record] adoption, he knows about interfaces — the

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, both the CDC and the World Health Organization identified asthma patients as being at high risk for severe disease and hospitalization, but it soon became evident that this may not be the case when study after study showed little or no support for that conclusion. Now the largest research review

Ten cases of anaphylaxis and over 100 cases of severe allergic reactions were reported following administration of the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, but nearly all were among those with a history of allergic reactions, researchers found. Of the 10 cases of anaphylaxis, nine were among those with a history of allergies or

While rare, the rate of anaphylaxis following COVID-19 mRNA vaccines appeared about 10 times that documented for flu shots, CDC officials said on Wednesday. Overall, 21 cases of anaphylaxis following COVID vaccination were reported out of about 1.9 million doses given as of Dec. 23, according to an early Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report release.

Anyone with a history of immediate allergic reaction of any severity to any component of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines or to polysorbate should not be vaccinated, the CDC said in updated interim guidance. While previously the agency released guidelines for contraindication to vaccination, it’s now broadened to include those with a history of immediate allergic reaction

In January, MedPage Today covered the FDA’s approval of an oral peanut allergy immunotherapy, which was seen as heralding a new era in food allergy treatment. In this follow-up feature, we review some of the developments occurring since. The timing probably couldn’t have been worse for the product’s developer, California-based Aimmune Therapeutics. The day its

The 24-hour news cycle is just as important to medicine as it is to politics, finance, or sports. At MedPage Today, new information is posted daily, but keeping up can be a challenge. As an aid for our readers and for a little amusement, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the

While criteria for contraindication to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are narrow, more observation or possibly delayed vaccination may be necessary in those with a history of severe allergic reactions, CDC staff said on a call with clinicians on Friday. The only individuals who should not receive mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, such as the recently authorized Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Barbecue can return to the menu for individuals with “alpha-gal” syndrome — severe allergic reactions to the alpha-galactose saccharide found in red meat — with FDA approval Monday of pigs engineered to lack an enzyme considered key to the condition. Developed by a company called Revivicor, the “GalSafe” pigs might also have therapeutic potential as

TTHealthWatch is a weekly podcast from Texas Tech. In it, Elizabeth Tracey, director of electronic media for Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Rick Lange, MD, president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, look at the top medical stories of the week. A transcript of the podcast is below the summary. This