Atopy in wheezing infants always starts with monosensitization.

Previously, evidence has been provided that sensitization is frequent in asthmatic children and polysensitization represents the natural history of allergy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polysensitization may occur primarily in infants with wheezing. Thus, 98 infants (<1 year of age) were studied at the onset of wheezing symptoms.

Allergic children have more numerous and severe respiratory infections than non-allergic children.

Allergic disorders are characterized by Th2-polarization, and hence physiological Th1-dependent mechanisms for fighting respiratory infections (RI) may be defective. This study aimed at evaluating the number and duration of RI in allergic and non-allergic children suffering from recurrent RI. One hundred seventeen children (4.

"Early" cat ownership and the risk of sensitization and allergic rhinitis in Ligurian children with respiratory symptoms.

Background: Studies on the role of cat ownership in the development of allergy have lead to conflicting results, probably owing to heterogeneity of the populations evaluated.

Objective: To evaluate the possible effect of cat ownership on the frequency of sensitization and asthma or rhinitis in children living in Liguria, Italy, who attended a pediatric clinic for respiratory symptoms.

Methods: We enrolled 269 consecutive school-aged children in 12 months.

The natural history of allergy: the development of new sensitizations in asthmatic children.

Allergy is an important risk factor for asthma in children as most of asthmatic children are sensitized. The aim of the study was to investigate the natural course of sensitizations in a group of children (340) at the onset of asthmatic symptoms. We subdivided children in three groups depending on the age at first visit (3-7-11 years) and followed them for 4 years.

Age-dependent tendency to become sensitized to other classes of aeroallergens in atopic asthmatic children.

Background: Several longitudinal studies report that allergic sensitization increases with age from childhood to adulthood.

Objective: To evaluate whether an age-dependent tendency to become sensitized to new classes of allergens is present in atopic children, we studied retrospectively the changes in allergic sensitization in 165 asthmatic patients, monosensitized (ie, sensitized to only one class of allergens) in the first survey.

Methods: All the children (18 months to 8 years at enrollment), attended our outpatient clinics twice, at time intervals ranging from 2 to 10 years.