Allergies & Asthma

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is one of the more puzzling phenomena in immunology, in part because, even though it’s an autoimmune disease involving complement dysregulation, it’s generally treated by allergists because its symptoms impersonate those of severe allergic reactions. At the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology’s annual meeting — cancelled because of concerns surrounding

Allergy to penicillin — at least as reported by patients — is both common and a challenge to clinicians, who must then decide what to prescribe for patients with infections. Several presentations on penicillin allergy were scheduled for presentation at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology annual meeting, cancelled because of concerns surrounding

earn free cme credit Earn CME credit by reading this article and completing the posttest. Sign Up Study Authors: Claudia C. Dobler, Allison S. Morrow, et al. Target Audience and Goal Statement: Pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, emergency department physicians, hospitalists The goal of this study was to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and adverse events (AEs)

Atopic dermatitis, a.k.a. eczema, remains a major clinical problem despite a growing number of agents approved to treat it. At the now-cancelled American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology’s annual meeting (shuttered because of COVID-19), many of the scheduled research presentations addressed the topic. Here are some of the most interesting. Many Patients May Need

With the cancellation of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology’s annual meeting on account of the COVID-19 outbreak, MedPage Today is reviewing some of the research abstracts that were scheduled for presentation. Here are some highlights of those focusing on asthma in children and adolescents. Parents’ Stress, Kids’ Breathing Trouble When minority parents

African-American and Hispanic adults with asthma were more likely to be treated in the emergency department (ED) than non-Hispanic whites, but were less likely to report on uncontrolled daytime symptoms of asthma, according to research from the cancelled American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting. “After controlling for factors including income, education,

Epinephrine auto-injectors are the mainstay of emergency treatment for anaphylactic allergic reactions, but despite many years of widespread use, important questions about them remain unanswered. At the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting that was supposed to have occurred last weekend — cancelled, like many others, as a precaution to prevent

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting may have been cancelled, but more than 800 abstracts were scheduled for presentation and are now published. Here are some of the highlights regarding allergies to pollen, pets, and household dust. School Desktops, Cafeteria Floors: What’s in That Dust? Many parents of food-allergic children

“It’s not an on-off switch, it’s a dimmer.” — Nancy Messonnier, MD, CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, on whether containment strategies get dropped in lieu of mitigation strategies as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads. “There’s still a lot of unanswered questions.” — Yuko Hara, PhD, of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery

Children with asthma were more likely to have co-occurring type 1 diabetes, but the reverse was not true, according to a Swedish registry study. Among more than one million children, those with asthma had a small but significant increased risk of being subsequently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes compared with children who did not have

Note that some links may require subscriptions. It’s been 3 weeks since the last Ebola case was diagnosed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and “we are now in the countdown to the end of the outbreak,” said the World Health Organization’s director-general on Monday. Hoping to stem the COVID-19 outbreak, Italy broadened its

The CDC on Monday recommended that individuals at the highest risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 have adequate stores of food, needed medicines, and other essential supplies, and that they limit travel to minimize exposure to the novel coronavirus as the outbreak spreads across the nation. “In the setting where it’s really clear

Exclusive breastfeeding during the first 3 months of life was associated with significant reduction in respiratory allergies among children at age 6, according to a longitudinal study. Analysis of data from 1,177 mother-child pairs in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II (IFPS II) demonstrated that 6-year-olds who were exclusively breastfed were 23% less likely than

WASHINGTON — Concerned about “continued reports of suicide” and other neuropsychiatric events among users of the allergy and asthma drug montelukast (Singulair), the FDA is moving previous warnings about these risks into a black box, the agency said Wednesday. “The boxed warning advises health care providers to avoid prescribing montelukast for patients with mild symptoms,

Antibiotic therapy was associated with significantly reduced treatment failure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients experiencing mild exacerbations, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis. In 68 randomized controlled trials of patients with moderate to severe exacerbations, antibiotics and systemic corticosteroids were associated with improved symptoms and less treatment failure versus placebo or management

[embedded content] A student buys sushi from the gas station for breakfast. Is this what sent him to the hospital — or was it his penchant toward garbage picking for food? Watch the analysis of this fishy case. Read the transcript below: TB is a 22-year-old man, presenting to the emergency room with facial swelling,

Note that some links may require subscriptions. More than 300 Americans quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan returned home on Monday, with 14 confirmed coronavirus cases among them. (NBC News) Shanghai doctors are reporting promising early results treating infected COVID-19 patients with the blood of those who recovered from the illness. (Reuters)

Sometimes, old ideas and time-tested treatments remain the best. Newer doesn’t always mean better. Except in the case of one of our oldest antihistamines, tried-and-true Benadryl. It is time for that old drug to be retired, sent off to pasture, and never used again. Goodbye, Benadryl. Fare thee well, adieu, and don’t let the door

“I think we should close the camps, and if we can’t do that, at least do the absolute minimum for people who are imprisoned in these camps, and that is treat them like human beings who deserve medical care.” — Zack Berger, MD, discussing the immigrant detainees at the Mexican border. “We’re not evangelists claiming

Prenatal supplementation with high-dose vitamin D had no impact on asthma and persistent wheezing in 6-year-olds in follow-up of a study that did suggest protection at age 3 years. Previously reported data from the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART) showed a reduction in recurrent wheezing in 3-year-olds associated with being born to mothers

WASHINGTON — The causes — or not — of asthma were front and center at a House hearing Wednesday on the effects of climate change on health. “Children are disproportionately burdened by and uniquely vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change as a result of their physiology,” said Aparna Bole, MD, a Cleveland pediatrician

Palforzia, the first-ever oral immunotherapy (OIT) to win FDA approval, is poised to ease peanut allergy for millions, but how widely it will be adopted remains to be seen. Questions have been raised about whether its risks are worth the potential benefit, and some clinics already offer OIT with inexpensive peanut flour or other ingredients.

WASHINGTON — Aimmune Therapeutics’ oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy gained FDA approval late Friday, for treating individuals age 4-17, the agency said. To be sold as Palforzia, the product consists of purified peanut proteins, to be administered in carefully controlled escalating doses. The approval comes with a mandatory Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to

Whether evaluating patients for asthma or for COPD, spirometry is a critical and required part of the diagnostic process. Some primary care practices perform office spirometry, while many of us refer patients to PFT clinics and/or pulmonologists or allergists for evaluation and testing. Interpretation of spirometry can be challenging and not knowing normal values can

Elevated levels of serum testosterone appeared to be significantly associated with a reduced risk for asthma in women, and obesity modifies this risk, researchers reported. Findings from the first population-based study of its kind suggest that sex hormones play a key role in the widely recognized gender differences in asthma presentation among adults. In children

Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinuses. Ethmoid sinusitis is the inflammation of a specific group of sinuses — the ethmoid sinuses — which sit between the nose and eyes. The ethmoid sinuses are hollow spaces in the bones around the nose. They have a lining of mucus to help prevent the nose from drying

A rash is a change in the skin that can result in bumpy, blotchy, or scaly patches. Many people have had an itchy rash at some point in their lives. Many are harmless and will go away on their own, but others may be more persistent due to underlying causes or conditions. Many different factors

DBV Technologies said its investigational topical treatment for peanut allergy in children showed continued benefit in an extension of its main phase III trial, which the company hopes will lead to marketing approval later this year. Topline results from the extension, called PEOPLE, indicated that after 3 years, 75.9% of children ages 4 to 11