Allergies & Asthma

NEW ORLEANS — Everyone who received their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 at military facilities after experiencing allergic reactions to the first did just fine without any pretreatment, a physician reported here. These individuals were observed closely, of course, and some underwent allergy testing beforehand to ascertain whether they
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NEW ORLEANS — Safety of a dermal patch for helping peanut-allergic children tolerate the ubiquitous legume improved over time in a 3-year, open-label study, a researcher reported here. Although adverse effects (AEs) from the product were common in the first year, they diminished markedly in subsequent years, said Terri Brown-Whitehorn, MD, of Children’s Hospital of
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NEW ORLEANS — Although 2017 government-endorsed guidelines called for introducing peanuts in infancy in order to minimize risk of future allergy, few parents are getting that message from their pediatricians, survey results indicate. Among 3,062 parents of young children participating in the survey earlier this year, only 58% recalled any discussion with their child’s pediatrician
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Two monoclonal antibodies directed toward different interleukin (IL) targets produced wildly different results in randomized phase II trials involving asthma. On the plus side, an IL-33 inhibitor called itepekimab appeared to help patients keep their asthma under control better than placebo, reported Michael Wechsler, MD, of National Jewish Health in Denver, and colleagues. While on
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If you suffer from allergies, you likely feel the everyday impacts allergies can cause. We have good news — there is a safe, cost-effective, and convenient option available that might help you enjoy everyday activities and live your ideal lifestyle without worrying about allergies slowing you down. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), commonly known as allergy drops,
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Exacerbations were eliminated in about one-third of adult asthma patients treated prophylactically with the macrolide azithromycin, a researcher reported. In the real-world study presented at CHEST 2021, the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting held online, Hanan Ajay, a fifth-year medical student at the University of Liverpool in England said that of the 34
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An oral abstract session at CHEST 2021 on Wednesday devoted to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) offered a prime example of how a question-and-answer segment can be far more interesting than the actual presentations. One of the abstracts was a run-of-the-mill secondary analysis of years-old clinical trial data, while another examined claims data related to
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Children with uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma had better long-term lung function when they were treated with dupilumab (Dupixent), a randomized study showed. In the year-long trial, add-on dupilumab given to children ages 6-11 improved forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) by a pre-bronchodilator average of 0.06 liters at week 2 versus placebo (P=0.025), and by
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It’s probably no surprise that the most significant respiratory disease epidemic in 100 years is the number one subject at this year’s CHEST meeting. But healthcare professionals with interests in more traditional topics shouldn’t feel cheated, a review of abstracts and scheduled sessions indicates. Of the nearly 2,100 abstracts published ahead of the meeting —
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Are you one of the over 50 million Americans who experiences allergies each year? Signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction can range from a bothersome stuffy/runny nose, sneezing, and itchy/watery eyes to a rash, difficulty swallowing and anaphylaxis. What actually happens during an allergic reaction? Is there a way to treat the cause? We’ll
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In today’s world, there are endless options for the same or similar services – even when it comes to healthcare. We understand that it can be difficult to decide which allergy skin test option is best for you, or to know who or what to trust when it comes to diagnosing your allergies. Dr. Mary
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Diagnostic accuracy of confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) was too low to identify wheat sensitivities in non-celiac irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients, according to a prospective multicenter study. The method accurately detected wheat sensitivity in only about half of the individuals who responded to a gluten-free diet at 2 months (51.4% sensitivity, 97.5% CI 38.7-63.9%), reported
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Researchers looking for post-breastfeeding dietary patterns in two prospective birth cohorts that predispose infants to asthma found one, and it wasn’t what anyone expected. After switching from breast milk, babies up to age 1 whose protein intake came largely from meat products — as opposed to dairy, fish, or egg proteins — showed more than
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Several studies caught our eye at the just-concluded European Respiratory Society’s virtual annual meeting. Among them: more negative findings for ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment; clinical performance of a novel image-analysis system that determines in real time whether lung tissue biopsies collected during surgery contain malignant cells; and insights into just how triple therapy for
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One study of an immunotherapy for reducing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations missed its primary endpoint and failed to show a statistically significant benefit even in the subgroup that showed the greatest response. Another study, involving a similar product, showed results so dramatic that an independent expert suspected they were “too good to be
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Exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increased substantially following a single IV iron infusion, a researcher reported. With patients’ tolerance for physical activity measured with two standard assessments — the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and a constant work-rate exercise test — more than half the patients receiving the infusion achieved the
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Here’s another likely health impact from climate change to add to the ever-growing list: more frequent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. Each 1°C increment in outdoor temperature, after adjustment for humidity levels, was associated with a 2% increase in odds that COPD patients would experience exacerbations 2 days later (P=0.002), reported Supaksh Gupta, MD,
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Managing your allergies can be costly — especially when your daily antihistamine isn’t cutting out all of your symptoms. With so many products that claim to reduce allergy symptoms, it can be difficult to know which are worth the investment. In this blog, read about three of the top allergy products that we find to
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Most highly allergic adults were able to safely receive the two-dose series of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2; Comirnaty), a prospective single-center study found. Of 429 highly allergic patients who received the first dose of the mRNA vaccine, mild allergic reactions occurred in 1.4% and 0.7% experienced anaphylaxis, reported Nancy Agmon-Levin, MD, of Sheba Medical
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