Allergy/Asthma

Among children with a history of severe bronchiolitis, exposure to acid suppressant medications during infancy increased their risk for developing recurrent wheeze by age 3 years, according to findings presented during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

Prenatal exposure to antibiotics is associated with an increased risk for childhood asthma, according to study findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Several physicians who spoke with Healio Primary Care applauded the FDA’s decision to make Pataday Twice Daily Relief and Pataday Once Daily Relief available over the counter to patients 2 years of age and older with itchy eyes associated with allergic conjunctivitis.

The FDA has approved the first generic of ProAir HFA inhalation aerosol — albuterol sulfate — for the treatment or prevention of bronchospasm with reversible obstructive airway disease, such as asthma, and the prevention of exercise-induced bronchospasm in patients aged 4 years and older, according to a press release.

I knew from the earliest stages that if I pursued medicine as a career, infectious disease was the only choice for me. As a child, my favorite storybook was The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur, which recounts the discovery of the rabies vaccine. The idea that there were these mysterious entities called viruses and the human immune system had ways to combat them was completely captivating. As I grew older and learned about infectious diseases such as HIV, this fascination only increased. By the time I decided to go to medical school, I had already consumed scores of books on Ebola, Lassa fever, antimicrobial resistance and anything else I could get my hands on. In residency, I was mocked for carrying C.J. Peters’ Virus Hunter in my lab coat pocket, whereas the pockets of my fellow residents were teaming with reference books that allowed them to function on the wards.

Children whose mothers received high-dose vitamin D supplementation while pregnant were not less likely to develop asthma or recurrent wheeze at age 6 years than children whose mothers did not receive supplementation, according to follow-up data from the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial.

The FDA announced that it approved the oral immunotherapy Palforzia, the first treatment for peanut allergy in children aged 4 to 17 years.

In recent years, we have made significant strides in our understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma. As a result, specific new pharmacotherapies and therapeutic treatment strategies are now available.

Some decisions in life are quite difficult and complex; others come more easily and naturally. For me, the latter was the case with my decision to pursue a career in infectious diseases. From early first year pharmacology classes, to learning at the feet of ID giants like Harold Neu, Glenda Garvey, Mark Goldberger and many others in my 3rd and 4th years, going into ID was an easy choice.

To kick off the new year, IDC has assembled a list of the 10 most-read stories of 2019. Please follow the links to access the full stories.