Allergy News

Prague, Jan 6 (CTK) - The number of children suffering from asthma and other respiratory disease has been on the rise in the one million Prague as the number of cars and lorries in the city increases and the air is polluted with dust, daily Pravo writes today.

Pediatricians told the daily that the situation in the city is serious and that it has been worse and worse every year.

"For instance, younger children fall ill and the number of children suffering from asthma is rising. Babies and infants under half a year of age are not an exception," Pravo quotes pediatrician Ivana Nulickova who has a surgery in the city centre as saying.

Continue reading "Number of infants with asthma rises in Prague" »

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mothers who have previously used oral contraceptive pills seem more likely to have children with nasal allergies, Finnish researchers report.

Dr. Leea Keski-Nisula, of Kuopio University, Finland, and colleagues note in the medical journal Allergy that there has been a suggestion of an association between oral contraceptive use and allergic diseases.

To investigate, the researchers studied 618 asthmatic children aged 5 or 6 years and compared them with 564 similar but unaffected children.

Continue reading "The pill may raise odds of having allergic kids" »

Reducing salt intake may affect asthma severity and breathing in adults with the condition, says a joint Anglo-American review of the science.

The review looks set to continue to put pressure on the food industry to reach the targets set out by an increasing number of food agencies to cut salt intake. In the USA, UK and Ireland, over 80 per cent of salt intake comes from processed food.

The authors of the new review, Timothy Mickleborough from Indiana University and Andrew Fogarty from the University of Nottingham, analyse both epidemiological and clinical evidence and conclude that, collectively, increased salt intake may increase the severity of asthma for people with the disease.

Continue reading "Salt reduction may have asthma benefits too" »

If you have experienced an allergic reaction to the metals in your jewelry, you may want to think twice about what your dentist puts in your mouth! Fairly inexpensive materials like nickel and chromium keep the price down on your dental work, but they can cause more pain and discomfort than they're worth.

Up to 16 percent of women and six percent of men are allergic to the metal used in costume jewelry. These same metals could cause allergic reactions in your mouth if they are used in your dental work. Metals used to make crowns, dentures, onlays and veneers can trigger mouth discomfort.

The most common metal allergy is to nickel, which is used in many dental fixtures. Patients may also experience allergic reactions to gold, chromium and molybdenum.

Continue reading "Metal allergies can affect dental work" »

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 04 - Total control of asthma, in accordance with guidelines from the Global Initiative for Asthma at the National Institutes of Health, results in the best quality of life, a new report indicates.

The results show that a tangible improvement in quality of life is seen when asthma is totally controlled rather than simply well controlled.

As reported in the European Respiratory Journal for January, Dr. E. D. Bateman, from the University of Capetown in South Africa, and colleagues administered the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) to 1994 patients participating in a study comparing the efficacy of fluticasone alone or in combination with salmeterol.

Continue reading "Total Asthma Control Yields Best Quality of Life" »

January 3, 2007 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved safety labeling revisions to advise that administration of fexofenadine HCl products with fruit juice may decrease therapeutic efficacy; concomitant use of duloxetine HCl therapy with other drugs that affect the serotonergic system may increase the risk for serotonin syndrome; and use of central nervous system stimulants may increase the risk for sudden death in patients with serious heart conditions, may cause or exacerbate psychiatric symptoms in certain patients, and may cause temporary growth suppression.

On October 13, 2006, the FDA approved safety labeling revisions for fexofenadine HCl tablets and oral suspension (Allegra, made by Sanofi-Aventis US, LLC) to warn that exposure to fexofenadine may be reduced by their administration with fruit juices.

Continue reading "FDA Safety Changes: Allegra, Cymbalta, Concerta" »

A variety of agents, including some hand protection products, can contribute to contact dermatitis among workers. Contact dermatitis is a major problem for employees in many industries. Dermatitis is most often seen among workers involved in activities such as construction, healthcare and cleaning.

A common factor for these activities is the need for hand protection, primarily in the form of rubber gloves.

When contact dermatitis occurs, the first instinct is to blame it on the gloves.

More often than not, however, the reason for the allergic reaction is not contact with one agent but a combination of rubber and another source.

Continue reading "Protection against latex allergy and irritant" »

How well do we manage our patients who have been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis? Do patients and healthcare providers have a similar outlook? This presentation was given at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, and largely is drawn from data obtained from "Allergies in America: A Landmark Survey of Nasal Allergy Sufferers," the largest and most comprehensive national survey of patients with allergic rhinitis, and the healthcare providers who treat them, which was released in 2006.^[1]

The purpose of this survey was to describe the symptoms, burden of disease, and treatment of allergic rhinitis. As a brief summary, a national sample of 31,470 American households were screened by telephone interview to obtain a national probability sample of 2500 adults, aged 18 and over, who had been diagnosed by a physician with allergic rhinitis, nasal allergies, or "hay fever" and who had nasal allergy symptoms, or had taken prescription medication for allergies within the past 12 months

Continue reading "Satisfaction Level With Current Treatments for Allergic Rhinitis" »