Allergies come in all shapes and sizes ...
Just like allergy sufferers. And they are on the rise. For many people allergies can range from sniffling and sneezing to skin rashes to gastrointestinal issues. A certain percentage, however, have more than these uncomfortable symptoms to deal with. Anaphylaxis, a serious life-threatening reaction, causes approximately 1,500 deaths a year in the United States alone. Clearly, allergies are nothing to sneeze at!
Articles for Advocacy
Many with a severe allergy seem to think that an anaphylaxis reaction only happens to other people. A recent survey of 917 respondents found that 89 percent of the adults surveyed said they filled their prescriptions, but 45 percent said they didn’t have their device during their most severe allergic reaction — despite having had previous medical emergencies. What’s going on? Reasons given for not filling and carrying the prescription were cost, bulkiness, allergy not severe, no history of previous reaction and that they already had one or more. Perhaps we need a public information campaign to remind people to carry their EAI devices at all times.
Survey: Majority Don’t Use Prescribed Epinephrine in Emergency
By Denis Bedoya
June 21, 2018
A majority of people with potentially life-threatening allergies don’t use their epinephrine auto-injectors in an emergency, according to a study.
The results are based upon surveys of 917 people, including 450 adults. The findings were published Thursday in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Could the mystery of the cause of allergies be a bacterium that now seems to have disappeared from the guts of infants? Called B. infantis, nine out of 10 American babies don’t harbor this bacterium in their gut as compared to those in less industrialized countries. The cause could be the rise in cesarean births, the overuse of antibiotics or the use of infant formula in place of breast milk. Studies suggest that by the time babies without B. infantis are older, they are more likely to have allergies and Type 1 diabetes — and be overweight.
The Bacteria Babies Need
By Kristin Lawless
June 17, 2018
We may be missing the key to one of the biggest boons to public health since the introduction of iodine into the food supply in 1924.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found that a strain of bacteria called B. infantis that is thought to have been the dominant bacterium in the infant gut for all of human history is disappearing from the Western world. According to their research, this was probably caused by the rise in cesarean births, the overuse of antibiotics and the use of infant formula in place of breast milk.
Indeed, nine out of 10 American babies don’t harbor this bacterium in their gut, while researchers suspect that the majority of infants in less industrialized countries do.
What to Do When You're Stung
Many children do not realize they are allergic to bee stings until they get stung for the first time, while many adults have been stung before and suddenly become deathly allergic. With over 50 deaths a year in the U.S. due to anaphylaxis from insect stings, this important article describes what to do for any sort of insect bite. MRSA, a strain of staph bacteria, can also be a big concern. You can read the full article here.
Bees, wasps, and hornets: How to treat normal bites
Jul 3, 2018
Summertime means more time outdoors, where you may suffer many types of stings — mosquito bites, wasp bites, bee stings, spider bites, tick bites, or fire ant bites. While most consider insect bites a minor annoyance, they are life-threatening to the two million Americans allergic to their venom. In fact, there are at least 50 deaths each year in the U.S. because of allergic reactions from insect stings. And people who have suffered an allergic reaction have a 60 percent chance of a similar or worse reaction if stung again.
So how should you react to an insect sting?