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A jab that could provide a "one size fits all" approach to tackling hay fever, asthma and eczema could be available within a few years, a conference heard.Swiss researchers claimed allergies that blight the lives of 10 million British sufferers could be largely eradicated with a single vaccine. An allergy conference in London heard the “one size fits all” injection that wards off asthma, eczema, hay fever and even peanut allergies could be on the shelves within four to five years. Experts say if the jab, known only as CYT003-Qbg10 which has been tested on humans, is properly developed it...

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – For children at higher-than-average risk of asthma, having a dog around the house may increase the chances of developing the lung disease, a new study suggests. The study, which followed 380 children at increased risk of asthma due to family history, found that those exposed to relatively high levels of dog allergen at the age of 7 were more likely to have asthma. In contrast, there was no relationship between cat-allergen exposure and a child's risk of asthma, according to findings published in the journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. > "Dogs tend to have a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sneezing, congestion, and runny noses from hay fever may be lasting longer because climate change may be extending pollen seasons, doctors in Italy said on Monday. Pollen seasons as well as the amount of pollen in the air progressively increased during a six-year study in Italy, the doctors told a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans. The team at Genoa University recorded pollen counts, how long pollen seasons lasted and sensitivity to five types of pollen in the Bordighera region of Italy from 1981 to 2007. "By studying a well-defined...

LONDON — The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline says it has advised medical staff in Canada to not use one batch of swine flu vaccine for fear it may trigger life-threatening allergies. GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Gwenan White said Tuesday the company issued the advice after reports that one batch of the swine flu vaccine might have caused more allergic reactions than normal. She says the affected batch contains 172,000 doses of the vaccine. She declined to say how many doses had been administered before the advice to stop using them was given.

It is seldom recognized, commented historian René Dubos, that each society and every civilization creates its own diseases.1 Is the peanut allergy epidemic man-made? And if so, how has it been created in millions of children in just 20 years and who or what are its architects? The features of the epidemic continue to puzzle doctors. In the US alone, 5.6 million people – 2% of the population – are allergic topeanuts and nuts almost all having experienced onset as toddlers. This epidemic tipped into critical mass around 1998 when the first flood of allergic children entered kindergarten sending a...

A new study finds that a botanical drug could provide the key to new treatments for peanut allergies. The findings are published online in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Lead author Xiu-Min Li, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Allergy and Asthma at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and colleagues found Food Allergy Herbal Formula (FAHF-2) produced long-term protection following treatment against peanut-induced anaphylaxis in mice. FAHF-2 treatment protected peanut allergic mice from anaphylaxis for more than 36 weeks after treatment was discontinued.

Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special. Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, "No! Stop! Don't rub my head with peanut butter!" Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause anaphylactic shock, and all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a really expensive gift at Christmas. But unless you're a character on "Heroes," genes don't mutate fast enough to have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between 1997 and 2007. And genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents...

The new blue uniforms issued to Transportation Security Administration officers at hundreds of airports nationwide may have a snazzy look, but they have become a major irritant for some of those employees. The new uniforms are causing rashes and other irritations among transportation security officers who screen passengers at airports, according to the union representing the workers. "We're hearing from hundreds of TSOs that this is an issue," said Emily Ryan, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of Government Employees. Most of the complaints have been for skin rashes, but they have also included runny or bloody noses, lightheadeness, red...

DETROIT—A federal judge says a Detroit city employee can proceed with a civil suit claiming she couldn't work because of a co-worker's strong perfume. The Detroit News says U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff determined Susan McBride has a potential claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city is asking to have the suit dismissed. McBride says she's severely sensitive to perfumes and other cosmetics. She says the perfume worn by a co-worker in the city's Planning Department made it difficult for her to breathe. She says the co-worker also used a plugged in room deodorizer. The suit says the...

This is a total personal (vanity?) thread, but I have searched Google, and can't find the exact answer I'm looking for. For many years I have learned to never eat dairy and shellfish within a certain timeframe, because it will make me very sick (nausea and all the other unpleasant things that go with it). I ate shrimp for lunch yesterday, and after many hours (4-5 is my usual minimum) I ate ice cream. I still got ill, although not as severely as I would have, had I not heeded my usual rule. I now know I will have to...

A contaminant found in tainted heparin, the blood-thinner drug that has been linked to dozens of deaths, can trigger severe adverse reactions all by itself, researchers report. In one study released today, researchers confirm the presence of the chemical, known as oversulphated chondroitin sulphate, in suspect batches of heparin1. Another study found that the compound seems to trigger in pigs the same symptoms that have been seen in patients treated with the contaminated drug2. Contaminated heparin produces similar adverse reactions in swine.ANTONIA REEVE / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY “We show that the contaminated heparin activates two inflammatory pathways, causing severe allergic...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Starting Thursday, allergy sufferers can find the most-prescribed allergy medication available for over-the-counter sales. Zyrtec is the brand name for cetirizine and is approved to relieve allergy-related sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, and also, itching from hives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for sale without a prescription in November.Dr. Rajan Merchant from Woodland Healthcare said it is the same formula as a doctor would prescribe."The efficacy is the same; the dosage is the same as the prescription strength. But the reason it is going over the counter is because we have enough safety data...

Cures for a wide range of food allergies are less than a decade away, scientists said yesterday. By modifying the proteins in foods that cause the reactions, researchers have created treatments that can safely desensitise the body's immune system. "Therapies for food allergy will be on the market within seven to 10 years," said Ronald van Ree, of the University of Amsterdam, who is leading work on the development of treatments. (Snip) Because the allergens are well known, he was able to artificially produce them, but with a difference. "We can change the molecules so that IgE antibodies do not...

I just found out my daughter is peanut alergic, she is a 2/5 at just 15 months of age. Is there anything that a freeper can tell me about how bad this is? do chiledhood peanut allergies ever go away? how often? how ofter and how fast do they get worse?

US scientists claimed today to have bred the world's first hypoallergenic kitten, opening the doors and arms of millions of pet lovers for whom cuddling a cat has, until now, been a curse. At $US4000 ($5400) a head, the allergy-free felines will not be cheap. But the biotechnology firm behind the project believes sensitive owners will happily fork out extra for the chance to have a cat that doesn't leave them wheezing and sneezing. In a statement, the San Diego-based company, Allerca, said it had produced the cats using a technique known as genetic divergence. After identifying the genes of...

hi, all. my son is ready to sign up with the Marines - but he has a sevier allergy to peanuts. is this a disqualifier, or if not, is there much chance of exposure in the field? it is quite a sever allergy. thanks!

CHICAGO -- When a neighbor told Garmit Kaur that McDonald's had listed wheat -- a taboo for her two children with food allergies -- as an ingredient in its french fries, she flat-out didn't believe it. "I was shocked when I checked the Web site this morning," said the mother from Elmhurst, Ill. "I thought, that cannot be right because I'm very careful ... and it wasn't there a couple months ago." But there was no mistake. At the end of a long list -- including partially hydrogenated soybean oil and dextrose -- was the single offending line: "Contains wheat...

President’s Ronald Reagan's former allergist, Ralph Bookman, M.D., has earned the respect of doctors and patients by developing effective ways to minimize allergy problems. He is an ‘old school’ scholar with a tremendous amount of valuable information for allergy sufferers. While Governor of California, Ronald Reagan came looking for Dr. Bookman for some allergy relief. Ronald Reagan liked what he saw With Dr. Bookman it’s not hard to like, what you see is what you get. "The practice of allergy has become overly complicated and complex, says Dr. Bookman. It’s essentially a very simple subject, and unfortunately, some of its...

DETROIT -- A former disc jockey at a Detroit country radio station has seen her award in a perfume lawsuit dramatically reduced. A federal jury this spring awarded Erin Weber (pictured, right) $10.6 million. She said station owner Infinity Broadcasting fired her in 2001 after complaining about an allergic reaction to another host's perfume at 99.5 FM WYCD. Infinity said Weber was fired for not coming to work. A federal judge reduced the award to $814,000. He said he was tempted to throw the jury's entire verdict out because he questions whether Weber really has a perfume allergy. Weber's lawyers...