Archive for the ‘Allergy & Immunology’ Category

Each Monday I answer a question posed by one of our readers. If you have an interesting question which you think will have broad appeal please send it to dailydose@righthealth.com. This week’s question comes from Monica M:

Q: Does eating honey help keep allergy symptoms at bay?

A: I picked this question because it’s allergy season again and people are always looking for that wonder cure for their symptoms. Unfortunately, new treatments for allergic rhinitis (aka seasonal allergies, hay fever) have been few and far between. The most common therapies include avoidance of the allergen, antihistamines, nasal decongestants, and nasal steroids. If your symptoms are severe enough, an allergist may try immunotherapy. A couple of things that have been popular in the US in recent years is the neti pot and local honey. A neti pot is a container designed to irrigate your nasal cavity. Some people who use it regularly say it works better than medications. Local honey treatment refers to the idea of consuming raw, unpasturized honey that is produced by bees which live in the immediate region you live. The idea is that you are consuming honey with small amounts of intact pollens and allergens from the plants which you are likely allergic to. In this way, by exposing yourself to small amounts of allergens your body will be less likely to mount a severe immune response over time. This works, in theory. But, studies are still lacking to say that it is a definite cure. As well, keep in mind that this may work for allergies to plants, but not to molds or animals for obvious reasons. If this is something you’d like to try, there are a few cautions which you should heed. Unpasturized honey can cause allergic reactions – especially because there can be a lot of potential allergens in it. Also, honey can contain bacteria which causes botulism, especially in children. Therefore, unpasturized and/or improperly prepared and stored honey should never be given to young children. And as always, it’s a good idea to first speak with your doctor before starting any new drugs or therapies.

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In the current issue of Nature Medicine, scientists have proven what they long suspected – that HIV can hide in our bone marrow and avoid eradication by HIV drugs. Current medications can reduce HIV levels in the blood to an undetectable amount. But, the virus can often come surging back when one stops taking medication because our current drugs do not attack the bone marrow cells which harbor dormant viruses. Why not? Because if we completely kill off all our marrow cells our body cannot produce blood, which would essentially be fatal. However, we now have a new target for future medications to act. And, who knows, we may discover even more places where the virus is able to hide and evade attack. [via HealthDay]

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Everyone is on flu alert this season due to the H1N1 scare. Despite efforts in early vaccine deployment and increased production, public demand is still not being met, especially among patients who belong to small private clinics that have not been allocated shipments of the vaccine. As I found out this weekend, it is very difficult to find even one pharmacy or clinic that has the vaccine in stock. One tool I did find helpful is a Flu.gov widget that displays sites in your area which carry the vaccine and whether it is available. Although I found the information on availability to be very inaccurate, it does compile for you a comprehensive list of locations which should guide you in your search. Try it out here:

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Using surface disinfectants may contribute to bacterial antibiotic resistance, according to new research in January’s issue of Microbiology. We already know that the use of consumer-grade antimicrobial hand soaps contribute to the rise of antibiotic resistance. Similarly, the study demonstrated that when non-lethal amounts of disinfectant were added to bacteria in culture, the adapted bacteria were more likely to survive compared to the non-adapted bacteria. “In principle this means that residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” said Dr. Gerard Fleming who led the study. Bacteria that can resist both surface disinfectants and antibiotics could pose a very serious health concern to not only hospitalized patients, but the general public as well. [via Science Daily]

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The latest pediatric HIV study shows that children with HIV are living much longer than in the 1990s when doctors started prescribing antiretroviral drugs. However, young people with HIV continue to die at 30 times the rate of youth of similar age who do not have HIV. Multi-organ failure and kidney disease continue to be the major causes of death, along with infections. But, the types of infections have changed, from infections traditionally associated with AIDS to infections that are more common among children without HIV. This demonstrates that antiretroviral therapy is working and helping most HIV-infected children live into adulthood. “Will these children have a normal lifespan? Unfortunately, we don’t have all the answers yet. Currently, we don’t have the means to prevent all the complications of HIV infection.” said Lynne Mofenson, M.D., chief of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). [via NIH News]

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Believe it or not, we’re still only in the middle of flu season. With the H1N1 flu hitting early, this may be a flu season that just seems to go on forever. Since arriving in the US in April the H1N1 flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans, including 1,100 children and 7,500 younger adults, and infected one in six people (between April and November 14 there had been nearly 50 million cases). The good news is vaccine availability is on the rise. In fact, 12 million more doses will be available this week and a large part of that should be now available to the general public. Getting the H1N1 vaccine is the best way to protect oneself from H1N1 infection. Unlike the seasonal flu vaccine, which protects from what we think will be the most prevalent strains of the current season, we know exactly what we’re dealing with in regards to the H1N1 strain, so the vaccination is formulated to target it specifically. Getting the vaccination also protects those around you since it decreases the number of people who can catch H1N1 and go on to spread it, a concept called herd immunity. [via MedlinePlus]

Go to the Guide To H1N1 Flu.

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Today’s Daily Dose comes from the current issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers found, after following over 238 thousand women over the course of 40 years, that women who had a BMI of 30 or greater at the age of 18 had more than twice the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), compared to women with a BMI between 18.5 and 20.9. “Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS,” said study author Kassandra Munger, ScD, of the Harvard School of Public Health. The study authors theorize the link between obesity and MS may be that obese women tend to have lower vitamin D levels (higher vitamin D levels are thought to reduce the risk of MS). In addition, fatty tissue can produce substances thought to affect immune and cellular function which may be associated with MS. [via Medical News Today]

Calculated your BMI.

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Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of US-based non-profit health and environmental groups just released a report regarding contamination of Halloween face paints by heavy metals. Although the CDC recommends against using cosmetics which contain lead on children, there’s no way of telling whether the paints contain toxic metals since they are not required to be listed on product labels (there is no legal requirement to list them because they’re considered contaminants, not  ingredients). The group looked at 10 children’s face paint brands and found:

• 10 out of 10 children’s face paints contained lead at levels between 0.05 and 0.65 parts per million (ppm).
• 6 out of 10 children’s face paints contained nickel, cobalt and/or chromium at levels between 1.6 to 120 ppm (this is much higher than the industry safety standard of 1 ppm said the report). These metals can be allergens in children.
• Snazaroo Face Paint contained some of the highest levels of lead, nickel and cobalt found in the study. This product carries the words “non-toxic” and “hypoallergenic” on its label.

Continue reading at Medical News Today.

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Last month researchers from the US Army and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced the successful trial of a new HIV vaccine. However, because the study was based on very few cases, skeptics argued whether the vaccine had any effect after all. Fast forward to this week’s AIDS Vaccine 2009 meeting in Paris where researchers reviewed more data from the trial and found the claims in which the vaccine reduced HIV infection rates by 31% were sound. Additionally, it appears that the vaccine actually was even more effective during the first year of immunization, reducing infection rates by as high as 60%. “It looked like there’s an early effect that wanes with time,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. “It may be that the vaccine generates only weak antibodies against HIV, and these are only effective early on.” Although this vaccine isn’t ready for public use, the knowledge we gained from this research will certainly help in the production of new and improved HIV vaccines. [NEJM via New Scientist]

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The FDA recently announced the approval of a second HPV vaccine for the U.S. market. Cervarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, is the sole competitor to rival vaccine Gardasil, produced by Merck & Co. The vaccines differ in the strains of HPV they guard against, but both will fight the two most common strains that cause 70% of cervical cancers. At the same time, however, the FDA also granted approval for Merck’s Gardasil to be used in preventing genital warts (not genital cancer) in boys and men ages 9 through 26. But, do our children need yet another vaccine? You be the judge. Both vaccines are expected to net their respective companies over $1 billion per year in the coming years. [via ABC News]

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