Background: Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is the most complex and common food allergy in infants. Elimination of cow's milk from the diet and replacement with a specialized formula for infants with cow's milk allergy who cannot be breastfed is an established approach to minimize the risk of severe allergic reactions while avoiding nutritional deficiencies. Given the availability of multiple options, such as extensively hydrolyzed cow's milk-based formula (eHF-CM), aminoacid formula (AAF), hydrolyzed rice formula (HRF), and soy formula (SF), there is some uncertainty regarding which formula might represent the most suitable choice with respect to health outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood allergic reactions primarily occur after exposure to the offending food through ingestion, contact, or inhalation. However, it can occur covertly through hidden ways that are often missed, with undesirable consequences. Information has been accumulating over the years to indicate that food allergy (FA) may have been the problem in subjects who do not report an association to eating, touching, or smelling a food.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe normally acidic skin pH changes in atopic dermatitis (AD) to alkaline, which contributes to the associated skin-barrier dysfunction. Hence, acidic cleansers would be preferred, but such information is scarce. Guiding health-care providers and patients on selecting skin cleansers with a pH optimal for AD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Allergy Asthma Immunol
September 2024
The food allergy (FA) entity went through a long difficult road which led to much delay in its recognition. After long periods of denial and misdiagnosis, it attained its current designation as food hypersensitivity or allergy. This review will briefly address the evolution of the FA entity from the early BC era until our 21st century and highlight the milestones in the main aspects of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is the most common food allergy in infants. The replacement with specialized formulas is an established clinical approach to ensure adequate growth and minimize the risk of severe allergic reactions when breastfeeding is not possible. Still, given the availability of multiple options, such as extensively hydrolyzed cow's milk protein formula (eHF-CM), amino acid formula (AAF), hydrolyzed rice formula (HRF) and soy formulas (SF), there is some uncertainty as to the most suitable choice with respect to health outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, an increase of allergies and asthma has been observed throughout the world, more so in Western countries than in less developed ones. Although genetics may play a role in this increase, there are many other factors that may have contributed to the upsurge. The purpose of the present report was to review the many factors associated with modernization and lifestyle that may have contributed to the allergy and/or asthma epidemic, with a particular focus on those aspects that have particular relevance for the allergist/immunologist.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In 2014, germline signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 gain-of-function (GOF) mutations were first described to cause a novel multisystem disease of early-onset lymphoproliferation and autoimmunity.
Objective: This pivotal cohort study defines the scope, natural history, treatment, and overall survival of a large global cohort of patients with pathogenic STAT3 GOF variants.
Methods: We identified 191 patients from 33 countries with 72 unique mutations.
Background: Allergy to cow's milk is the most common food allergy in infants and it is usually outgrown by 5 years of age. In some individuals it persists beyond early childhood. Oral immunotherapy (OIT, oral desensitization, specific oral tolerance induction) has been proposed as a promising therapeutic strategy for persistent IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorld Allergy Organ J
July 2022
Patient care in the allergy and respiratory fields is advancing rapidly, offering the possibility of the inclusion of a variety of digital tools that aim to improve outcomes of care. Impaired access to several health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably increased the appetite and need for the inclusion of e-health tools amongst end-users. Consequently, a multitude of different e-health tools have been launched worldwide with various registration and access options, and with a wide range of offered benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic cough management necessitates a clear integrated care pathway approach. Primary care physicians initially encounter the majority of chronic cough patients, yet their role in proper management can prove challenging due to limited access to advanced diagnostic testing. A multidisciplinary approach involving otolaryngologists and chest physicians, allergists, and gastroenterologists, among others, is central to the optimal diagnosis and treatment of conditions which underly or worsen cough.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The prevalence of cow's milk allergy (CMA) is approximately 2-4.5% in infants and less than 0.5% in adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: As the prevalence of food allergies (FAs) increases worldwide, our understanding of their pathophysiology and risk factors is markedly expanding. In the past few decades, an increasing number of genes have been linked to FA. Identification of such genes may help in predicting the genetic risk for FA development, age of onset, clinical manifestation, causative allergen(s), and possibly the optimal treatment strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic cough can be triggered by respiratory and non-respiratory tract illnesses originating mainly from the upper and lower airways, and the GI tract (ie, reflux). Recent findings suggest it can also be a prominent feature in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), laryngeal hyperresponsiveness, and COVID-19. The classification of chronic cough is constantly updated but lacks clear definition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cough features a complex peripheral and central neuronal network. The function of the chemosensitive and stretch (afferent) cough receptors is well described but partly understood. It is speculated that chronic cough reflects a neurogenic inflammation of the cough reflex, which becomes hypersensitive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFX-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is an inborn error of immunity caused by pathogenic variants in the BTK gene, resulting in impaired B cell differentiation and maturation. Over 900 variants have already been described in this gene, however, new pathogenic variants continue to be identified. In this report, we describe 22 novel variants in BTK, associated with B cell deficiency with hypo- or agammaglobulinemia in male patients or in asymptomatic female carriers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe practice of food allergy (FA) for clinicians has boomed, with a dramatic rise in the number of patients and families seeking care and with many advances on several fronts. The practice itself sometimes is evidence-based science and sometimes an art of pattern and phenotype recognition. This article examines the tools for diagnosis and management and therapy options available to physicians providing care for patients with FA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpert Rev Clin Immunol
March 2020
: The development of new biologic agents has provided definite therapeutic advances but, like with any new medications, safety remains a concern.: Using PubMed, we reviewed the literature on the adverse effects (AE) to five biologics approved for asthma and/or allergic diseases: one anti-IgE (omalizumab), three anti-IL5 (mepolizumab, reslizumab, benralizumab), and one anti-IL4 (dupilumab).: Biologic agents approved for asthma and allergic diseases are generally safe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an innate immune deficiency, primarily affecting the phagocytic compartment, and presenting with a diverse phenotypic spectrum ranging from severe childhood infections to monogenic inflammatory bowel disease. Dihydrorhodamine (DHR) flow cytometry is the standard diagnostic test for CGD, and correlates with NADPH oxidase activity. While there may be genotype correlation with the DHR flow pattern in some patients, in several others, there is no correlation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAllergy Asthma Proc
March 2019
Scoring systems are increasingly being developed for various diseases, including asthma and allergic disorders, with the objective of improving the classification of disease severity and the assessment of efficacy of therapeutic modalities. This review provided concise summaries of published scoring systems used for allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, urticaria, Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis, eosinophilic esophagitis, and systemic allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). We searched the medical literature between 1985 and 2018 for published scoring systems that have been developed and used in clinical trials or in practice for assessment of asthma and a variety of allergic disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Some previous reports revealed suboptimal management of anaphylaxis (ANX) in the emergency department (ED).
Objective: To evaluate the recorded diagnosis and management of patients who presented with ANX at our university hospital ED and to assess how the management correlated with the severity of the case and the training level of the ED staff.
Methods: A descriptive study that involved reviewing the electronic medical records of patients who presented with ANX at the ED during a period of 4 years.
Objective: To provide a brief overview of the clinical presentation, common offending agents, management, prognosis, and mortality of 6 selected high-risk drug rashes, namely, Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome, multiple drug hypersensitivity (MDH) syndrome, acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP), and drug-induced bullous pemphigoid (DIBP).
Data Sources: A review of the published literature was performed with PubMed and supplemented with our clinical experience.
Study Selections: The most recent clinically relevant studies and older seminal works were selected.
World Allergy Organ J
January 2018
Background: The 2010 Diagnosis and Rationale for Action against Cow's Milk Allergy (DRACMA) guidelines are the only Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines for cow's milk allergy (CMA). They indicate oral food challenge (OFC) as the reference test for diagnosis, and suggest the choice of specific alternative formula in different clinical conditions. Their recommendations are flexible, both in diagnosis and in treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Rev Allergy Immunol
August 2018
As a chronic inflammatory disease with eosinophilic infiltrate of the esophagus, eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) causes a variety of gastrointestinal (GI) clinical manifestations. None of the symptoms, endoscopic features, or biopsy findings is pathognomonic of the disease, even with high degrees of esophageal eosinophilia. The pathogenesis has been explored by several studies, yet it still far from being completely understood.
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