Adventures of an Allergist Mommy

Image by Getty Images via Daylife In this season of influenza pandemics, our vaccine-naive little ones were scheduled to be subjected to not one, but 2 separate influenza vaccines, in a total of 4 doses! Ouch! Well, here's some good news from GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Pandemrix, one of the H1N1 vaccines currently being distributed and administered around the world. A single shot may be sufficient to confer protective immunity! The study is not yet complete, but preliminary results look promising... Son #2, who was none to happy with me when I gave him seasonal influenza vaccine 1 of 2 on Wednesday, would be pleased (if he had any idea what any of the fuss was about)! http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711241_print

Halloween is an exciting time for children... costume parties, silly music, bags and bags of CANDY... Yep. It's the candy part that gets our undies all in a knot. Never mind the damage all that sugar does to those little teeth (Here's an idea-our dentist buys back candy at $1 per pound and sends it to our troops overseas!). For the parent of an allergic child, the concern is more about the damage that the hidden food allergen might do to our kids. The zombie costumes are ghoulish enough- do we really need to amp up the freakishness with hives and giant swollen lips? The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology offers some Halloween tips here: http://www.aaaai.org/patients/elements/1008/08halloween_checklist.stm I think these ideas are a great start, but I do doubt the practicality of distributing your own safe snacks to neighbors in advance of trick-or-treating. (Not really fair to expect them to keep track- or even be able to recognize your kid if he or she is in...

From the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: MILWAUKEE – With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that an initial analysis of 1,400 adults hospitalized for H1N1 found that 26% had asthma, how can the more than 34 million Americans with asthma protect themselves from the virus and complications? An article set to appear in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) recommends that people with asthma who have suspected or confirmed influenza should be strongly considered for antiviral medications because of their increased risk of developing a complication such as bacterial pneumonia. Additionally, most patients with asthma should be vaccinated with the seasonal and 2009 H1N1 inactivated vaccines. “People with asthma are at high risk of serious complications from influenza infection, including H1N1, but vaccination can significantly reduce this risk. If you have asthma, seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccination is recommended. B...

On Sept. 16, 2009, Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced that Walgreens will begin to offer its epinephrine pre-filled syringes (Epi PFS) as a generic alternative to epinephrine autoinjectors. Certainly, it is wonderful to have a lower-cost alternative to EpiPen and TwinJect. (Tier 1 co-pay on Aetna and Cigna!) Many parents cough up $70 or more out of pocket for epinephrine autoinjectors that end up being thrown away. Now, don't get me wrong- I think it's much better to spend the money and throw it away than not spend it and be without life-saving medication if you should need it. But when you need one for home, one for school, one for grandma's house, etc... it adds up. On top of that, I like to prescribe epinephrine for my immunotherapy patients, and they aren't thrilled about the co-pay either, especially when the prescription is only a precaution. However, just because the medication inside the syringe is the same doesn't mean that device is equivalen...

I have a special interest in the treatment of severe eczema, and for years have been recommending to my patients treatments designed to reduce the burden of the bacteria known as staphylococcus aureus. Staph aureus, as it is commonly known, colonizes the skin and nose of up to 90% of patients with atopic dermatitis, or eczema. This not only can lead to infections in inflamed skin, but can also contribute to worsening of eczema when patients develop an allergy to the toxins produced by the bacteria. The mainstays of antibacterial therapy for control of staph aureus colonization are: oral antibiotics, nasal antibiotics, and dilute bleach baths. The traditional thinking has been that implementing these measures would reduce the bacterial burden, thereby improving the condition of the skin. Now, a fascinating study in the September issue of Pediatrics has turned the traditional wisdom on its head. Sure enough, patients treated with the anti-staph cocktail therapy had better outcomes t...

This afternoon, Son #1 showed me an art project that he made at daycare- a conglomeration of sand and paint and glitter. Son #1: Mommy, look I made a picture for- Me (interrupting): It's beautiful, honey! Thank you! Me (thinking to myself): Oh gosh, he's going to be so proud of this one... How am I going to recycle it without him noticing? Son #1: Mommy, it's not for you. I made this picture for Selena Gomez (Disney teen queen). Me: Oh! Okay... well, it's very nice. I'm sure she'll love it. Me (thinking to myself again): Oh no. I have just been supplanted as my son's most loved woman. Selena Gomez, you better watch your back, little lady.

The evidence is mounting that the fungus responsible for athlete's foot and ringworm- trichophyton, may be playing a role in severe asthma... A Japanese study published in the Journal Chest examined rates of allergic sensitivity to this fungus in asthmatics and non-asthmatics, as measured by presence of IgE antibody in the blood specific for trichophyton. 32.4% of patients with severe asthma were sensitized to trichophyton, 15.8% of patients with moderate asthma were allergic, and only 4.9% of patients with mild asthma were sensitized. Interestingly, the rates for allergic sensitization to other common environmental allergens (cat, dog, mixed molds) did not differ significantly between the different groups of asthmatics. Similar associations between trichophyton and asthma have been noted in Venezuela and Turkey as well. Antifungal treatment in these patients has been shown to improve asthma severity. Bottom line? Although probably not a major issue for well-controlled asthmatic...