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HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALSFeatures and Articles About Allergies
Our Features page contains articles written by doctors, specialists, journalists and individuals from professional bodies and organisations. To read a specific article, click on the underlined heading.
Many young children who get a severe skin rash develop asthma months or years later. Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march ... |
On May 4th Media Planet, the independent report publishing house, produced a 16 page report entitled "Asthma and Allergies" that went out nationally in The Guardian newspaper ... |
Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center ... |
NICE Issue Preliminary Recommendations For First Licensed Treatment For Chronic Hand Eczema |
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) today published a positive preliminary recommendation for Toctino (alitretinoin) for adults with chronic hand eczema that is unresponsive to potent topical steroids when the patient has severe disease and their quality of life is significantly impaired ... |
Allergies manifest themselves in many different ways and one of them is the Oral Allergy Syndrome. This is sometimes also known as the pollen-fruit allergy syndrome because it occurs in people who are sensitive to common pollens and then develop a cross-sensitivity to various fruits and vegetables ... |
Hayfever. Over 25 per cent of the population suffer from it and research has found that it could be costing businesses over £7.1bn each year, with affected workers unable to perform properly during the Summer season ... |
Mouse gene leads to new breakthrough in allergy research An international collaboration between scientists at the University of Dundee and research groups in Ireland and Japan has discovered a genetic defect in mice that leads to allergic inflammation, comparable to that seen in human eczema and related allergic diseases ... |
Basilea's Toctino Accepted For Use By The Scottish Medicines Consortium |
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. announces that the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has acceptedToctino®(alitretinoin) for use within National Health Service (NHS) Scotland for the treatment of adults with severe chronic hand eczema (CHE) unresponsive to potent topical corticosteroids ... |
World-First Desensitisation Therapy Is 'Cure' For Severe Peanut Allergy |
A group of children with peanut allergy no longer have to worry about severe immune reactions after taking part in the world’s first successful peanut desensitisation programme ... |
Hypersensitivity to perfumes is the most common contact allergy in adults. Research at the University of Gothenburg has demonstrated that even natural aromatic oils, which many deem harmless compared to synthetic perfumes, may cause allergic reactions ... |
A programme to train practice nurses to run food intolerance clinics in every GP practice, based on a three year research project at the University of Surrey, was launched last week by FAIR, the Foundation for Allergy and Intolerance Research ... |
Taking one grass pollen tablet every day can alleviate hay fever and asthma in children. These are the results of a study by medical experts in the team led by Prof. Dr. Albrecht Bufe (Experimental Pneumology) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum ... |
New guidance to help NHS and local authority commissioners ensure that people with long term conditions are more involved in decisions about their illness and treatment, has been issued by the Department of Health ... |
As National Food Intolerance Week kicks off this week (19th – 23rd January) it is estimated that up to 12 million people are living with food intolerance and spending on average up to £350 on wasted remedies and pills trying to relieve the symptoms before they discover the cause. By using a convenient home test kit such as the YorkTest Foodscan, sufferers can put a stop to their food intolerance once and for all ... |
Research funded by Asthma UK and published in Mucosal Immunology this week, has lead to the development of a vaccine treatment that can prevent asthma-like symptoms in mice ... |
Fungal Pill Could Provide Asthma Relief For 150,000 UK Sufferers |
Up to 150,000 people suffering from severe asthma in the UK could benefit from taking antifungal medication already available from pharmacists, new research has found ... |
Antacid Medication In Pregnancy May Increase Childhood Asthma |
Children of mothers who took acid-suppressive drugs during pregnancy had a 1.5 times higher incidence of asthma when compared to children who were not exposed to the drugs in utero, finds a large population-based study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston ... |
Basilea Announces That It Has Opened Phase III Study On Alitretinoin In US |
"There is a real sense of excitement within the dermatology community with the start of this important trial," said Dr. Donald Belsito, HANDEL Lead Investigator and Director of Dermatology at University of Kansas Medical Center. "Chronic hand eczema is a debilitating condition, and there are currently no FDA approved treatment options for patients unresponsive to potent topical steroids ... |
Measures to control nuts are instead making things worse in a cycle of over-reaction and increasing sensitisation. At this time of year many municipal elementary schools in the United States, including the one attended by my children, raise money by selling wrapping paper and candy ... |
A hypoallergenic milk formula that could stop the development of eczema in babies is being trialed at St Mary’s and Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospitals in London, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ... |
The FSA Board will recommend to Ministers that Government advice on avoiding peanuts during pregnancy, breastfeeding and early life, where there is a family history of allergy, is revised in light of new evidence ... |
The number of allergy alerts sent out by national allergy charity The Anaphylaxis Campaign so far this year has exceeded their 2007 record level of 58. The charity has been involved in no fewer than 60 alerts this year ... |
A team of scientists from across Europe are embarking on new research to develop a treatment for food allergy ... |
Beekeepers Help The Development of New Treatments for Allergic Diseases |
The immune system of the body is very clever. It consists of cells and chemicals all designed to protect us. It can differentiate between harmful and harmless substances that are foreign to the body (antigens). It springs into action when it spots a harmful antigen and ignores the harmless variety ... |
People with restless leg syndrome often have found that sleep-inducing allergy drugs worsen their symptoms. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered a possible reason for that and help explain why RLS in general interferes with sleep but doesn’t seem to result in daytime drowsiness ... |
It is said that timing is everything, and that certainly appears to be true for autumn infants. Children who are born four months before the height of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than children born at any other time of year, according to new research ... |
World COPD Day this year provides the occasion for the launch of a website for European citizens to check national and local air quality and to learn the steps they can take to minimise any adverse effects ... |
A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health shows that developing antibodies to cockroach and mouse proteins is associated with a greater risk for wheeze, hay fever, and eczema in preschool urban children as young as three years of age ... |
Giving children with milk allergies increasingly higher doses of milk over time may ease, and even help them completely overcome, their allergic reactions, according to the results of a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and conducted jointly with Duke University ... |
An upside to allergies? Scientists believe they protect us against cancer. Most people with allergies consider them a nuisance at best while more serious cases can be life threatening. But scientists now claim that they have an upside ... |
Doctors are being warned to be alert to a new allergic skin disorder, caused by mobile phones, according to the British Association of Dermatologists. A new phenomenon called “mobile phone dermatitis” has been discovered, in which people who spend long periods of time on their mobile phone develop an allergic reaction to the phone’s nickel surface ... |
Society's Lack of Knowledge of Food Allergies Greatly Impacts Those With Allergies |
The level of knowledge and understanding of children with food allergies varies significantly across three key groups: pediatricians and family physicians, the general public and families who have a child with food allergies ... |
Livwell Proud Sponsors of the 2009 Foods Matter FreeFrom Food Awards |
Livwell the largest supplier to the UK free-from retail market is proud to announce its sponsorship of the 2009 Foods Matter FreeFrom Food Awards ... |
Chlorinated Outdoor Pools May Increase Risks of Asthma and Allergy in Kids |
There is probably no better place than an outdoor swimming pool to refresh and relax on hot days. A backyard pool is also a lot of fun for kids who can spend hours playing and swimming in the pool during summertime ... |
Paracetamol in First Years of Life Increases Risk of Asthma, and Eczema in Children |
Use of paracetamol in the first year of life in later childhood, is associated with risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis (RC)*, and eczema at age 6-7 years. This is the conclusion of an Article in this week’s Asthma Special Issue of The Lancet, written by Professor Richard Beasley, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, and colleagues ... |
Day-Care Attendance Reduces The Risk of Wheeze At Age Five Years |
Asthma and wheeze have been on the rise over the past few decades. There are many hypotheses to explain why they have become more common ... |
An increasing number of studies have shown a reduced risk of allergies, hay fever, asthma and eczema in farmers' children and adolescents ... |
Eating Too Many Nuts in Pregnancy Could Put Babies at Risk of Asthma |
Expectant mothers who eat nut products like peanut butter daily during pregnancy increase their children’s risk over developing asthma by more than fifty percent over women who rarely or never consume nut products during pregnancy, according to new research from the Netherlands ... |
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd announces that Toctino® (alitretinoin), a new oral therapy for severe refractory Chronic Hand Eczema (CHE), was recommended for regulatory approval under the European decentralized procedure and will become the first authorized treatment for this chronic disabling disease. ... |
Ancient Antibody Molecule Offers Clues to How Humans Evolved Allergies |
Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered how evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems. The team from the Randall Division of Cell & Molecular Biophysics, King's College London are working on a molecule vital to a chicken's immune system which represents the evolutionary ancestor of the human antibodies that cause allergic reactions ... |
With the peak grass pollen season approaching, scientists can reveal that a daily dose of probiotic can change the immune status of people with hay fever. In the first human study of its kind, scientists at the Institute of Food Research found that probiotic bacteria in a daily drink can modify the immune system's response to grass pollen, a common cause of seasonal hay fever ... |
STREAMING eyes, runny nose and endless sneezing? Help might be on the way in the form of a hay-fever vaccine that works faster and involves far fewer injections than existing treatment regimens ... |
An increasing number of Britons claim they are intolerant to wheat. But far from being one condition, health problems involving wheat actually fall into three main groups ... |
First-born babies may be programmed in the womb to have a higher risk of asthma and allergy, research suggests. A University of South Carolina led team carried out tests on more than 1,200 newborns from the Isle of Wight ... |
A study into teenagers with food allergies will investigate what life is like for them in an attempt to improve their quality of life and curb the number of allergy-related deaths. Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have created a quality of life questionnaire which asks teenagers what it is like for them to live with a food allergy. They are inviting young people with food allergies to come forward to take part in the study ... |
Prolonged exposure to baby milk powder increases the risk of breathing problems, including wheezing and breathlessness, a study has found. It looked at 170 Thai factory workers who made the powder, but the team from University of Birmingham says the risk could also apply to nannies ... |
Exposing pregnant mothers and infants to probiotic bacteria boosts their immune systems and could stop them developing allergies, according to scientists. Researchers selected 1,223 women with a history of allergies or a partner who suffered from them and gave them probiotic or placebo doses daily when they were eight months pregnant ... |
Peanut Allergy Immunotherapy Should Be Available In Five Years |
Some form of immunotherapy is expected to be available for peanut allergy within the next five years. But the reasons for the increasing prevalence of this allergic reaction remain unclear. The issues are discussed by Professor Wesley Burks, Duke University Medical Center, NC, USA, in a Seminar in this week's edition of The Lancet ... |
If you're allergic to soy, help is on the way. Two University of Illinois studies show that fermenting soy dramatically reduces its potential allergenicity and also increases the number of essential amino acids in soy products, making them a healthy and a safe choice for consumers ... |
A study may have discovered why breastfeeding might help protect children against allergies such as asthma, scientists have said. The French research, published in Nature Medicine, shows female mice exposed to allergens can pass them directly to their offspring in milk ... |
| During my 40 years as a GP I've treated thousands of eczema sufferers. Skin conditions and their treatment has always been an area of interest for me. To non-sufferers the impact of skin conditions like eczema, on patients and their families quality of life are often under estimated ... |
| No Dairy, No Better Tasting Custard It’s a No Brainer... |
| The number of people suffering allergic reactions has trebled in the last 20 years, ... |
| Allergy Diagnosis, Testing and Treatment |
| Many years ago I was taught medicine in London when it was swinging and Carnaby Street sold rainbow clothes. Our teachers had qualified before the Second World War well before most test had been invented and cholesterol was "bad". We were taught to take a careful medical history, perform a physical examination and then, if necessary, do tests to confirm what we had already decided ... |
| Food Standards Agency Issues Revised Advice on Certain Artificial Food Colours |
| Following the publication of new research commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), parents of children showing signs of hyperactivity are being advised that eliminating certain artificial food colours from their diets might have some beneficial effects on their behaviour ... |
| Peanut allergy study reaches 100th participant |
| A clinical research study to help determine whether consumption or avoidance of peanuts is the best way to prevent peanut allergy in young children, is celebrating the enrolment of its 100th participant ... |
| Cow Milk Allergy supplied by Act Against Allergy |
| In some children the ingestion of milk can trigger the body into launching an inappropriate immune response to the proteins in milk resulting in an allergic reaction: the Cow Milk Allergy ... |
| Pillows - A Hot Bed of Fungal Spores supplied by The Fungal Research Trust |
| Researchers at The University of Manchester, funded by the Fungal Research Trust, have discovered millions of fungal spores literally right under our noses - in our pillows ... |
Allergy Clearing, DNA Activation & Autoimmunity by Sol Luckman |
| Having spent nearly a decade dying, I am deeply grateful for the pioneering of Dr. Devi Nambudripad, developer of Nambudpripad's Allergy Elimination Technique. NAET employs muscle testing (kinesiology) to determine allergies--a term encompassing chemical, environmental and nutritional sensitivities that derange the immune system and contribute to a variety of "incurable" ailments... |
| Co-op Supermarket bans MSG and Artificial Food Colours |
| The Co-op has become the first supermarket group to ban a range of commonly-used colours and monosodium glutamate (MSG) in all its own-label food, because of potential links to food intolerance and fresh concerns about children's diets ... |
| Allergies to Dogs by Jennifer Brooke |
| A very interesteing article showing how you can live with dogs even if you have a pet allergy ... |
| Scientists discover novel method to reduce cat allergic reactions |
| Imperial College London & Royal Brompton Hospital have discovered a way to decrease allergic reactions by increasing numbers of CD4+ regulatory T-cells ... |
| Do you have the right prescription? The Allergy Magazine |
| Allergies can be difficult to deal with at the best of times, but imagine being ill and in need of treatment, yet being allergic to the medication that could cure you... |
| Food and Moods The Allergy Magazine |
| We are what we eat. So what does your diet say about you? You might be surprised at the extent to which your diet can affect your moods and your allergies... |
| 10 things you MUST know about the EpiPen The Allergy Magazine |
| The benefits of carrying your EpiPen with you... |
| Allergy in the UK The Allergy Magazine |
| We're constantly reading that allergies are on the increase, yet there seems to be a chronic lack of commitment from the health service to fight the problem ... |
| Babies and Food Allergy by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson |
| The allergy world is a very confusing one - if only because very few health professionals really understand much about it! ... |
| Dairy Free from Cradle to Grave by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson |
| Dairy free diets sound horrendous to the un-initiated but there are many who have learnt to love them ... |
| Dairy Free Infants and Toddlers by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson |
| Milk has a great image. Wholesome, comforting, nutritious - it represents everything we cherish about family, community, continuity. But - whose milk? ... |
| Could a food allergy be turning your kid hyperactive? The Allergy Magazine |
| Does your child struggle to concentrate or get in trouble a lot at school? Is his or her behaviour so bad it's ruining your family life? Has he or she been diagnosed as hyperactive? ... |
| Why Body Piercing Could Be a Rash Move The Allergy Magazine |
| Samantha Lee (not her real name) winced in pain as she slowly rolled up her T-shirt and examined her stomach in the bedroom mirror ... |
| The Truth About Energy-Based Allergy Treatment by Robert Fioravante, M.S. |
| I have formerly suffered with allergies for over twenty years. Finally, I have been liberated from years of debilitating allergy symptoms by an alternative allergy treatment known as "energy-based allergy elimination." ... |
| Food Allergy and Intolerance by Dr Michael Radcliffe |
| If you want to give your GP a stressful moment, tell him that you suspect you have a food allergy - few subjects in medicine have been the cause of more controversy ... |
| The Allergy Volcano - An Overview of a Modern Disease by Jennifer Worth |
| Allergic diseases are increasing world wide. It seems that we cannot adapt to the environment we are creating ... |
| Homeopathy and Allergic Hay Fever by Adrianna Holman |
| Homeopathy has been scientifically proven to treat hay fever just as well as conventional medicine ... |
| Links Between Eczema and Other Allergic Disorders by Dr Stewart Rutherford Morison |
| This title was suggested by Deborah, so is not of my making as will become immediately apparent! ... |
| Eczema, food allergy and tests by Dr Richard Turner |
| It is always a difficult question to answer: "Is my child's eczema caused by something he/she is eating?"... |
| Neonatal Sensitisation to Latex - A Medical Hypothisis by Jennifer Worth |
| Babies born in delivery rooms of hospitals are exposed to latex through skin and mucous membrane contact with prepowdered latex gloves ... |
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Page updated: 26 January 2009 |
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