Allergy/Asthma

The Viaskin peanut patch was well-tolerated and safe for young children with a peanut allergy, according to findings presented at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology annual meeting.

In a recent randomized control trial, researchers asked pediatric patients with nut allergies to casually touch the allergen, hoping it would reduce their anxiety about coming in contact with it. This approach did not reduce their anxiety any more than education did alone, but researchers stressed that casual exposure to allergens is a common worry among patients, and providers should discuss it.

Very few children with reported penicillin allergy have a reaction when tested with a graded challenge, according to research presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting. The findings add to growing evidence that penicillin allergy is overreported.

Clinicians did not consistently adhere to peanut allergy–related guidelines or conduct proper allergy screenings, according to three different abstracts presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting. 

The number of allergists that reported obstacles in conducting oral food challenges increased during the past decade, according to findings presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.

Young children with peanut allergy who received 12 months of treatment with a peanut patch had a significant difference in treatment response rate vs. those who received placebo, according to findings published in JAMA. However, the trial did not meet a prespecified criterion for a positive trial result.

As a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, I did an elective rotation with Dr. John Greene at Moffitt Cancer Center. I was awestruck as I saw the fellows and Dr. Greene make incredible diagnoses based on details from the patients’ histories. We conversed with radiologists, pathologists, other internal medicine subspecialists and surgeons; a constant busy mission to determine what kind of infections patients had. Their knowledge was superior, having to understand different cultures, practices and hobbies that could lead to the diagnosis. I witnessed the way that the infectious disease physicians conversed with others; their pleasant demeanor toward patients and staff was infectious. Most compelling of all was the microbiology lab, where you came face to face with your patients’ foes: Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Fusarium, Cryptosporidium, etc. This to me was the defining moment: looking into the viewing ocular pieces of the microscope to view something that was a millionth our size and had the potential to cause incredible pathologic havoc. This experience, which I also had during my internal medicine residency, is what led me to my interest in host-pathogen responses and to choose a career in infectious diseases.

The FDA recently issued approval to the first generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder) for reducing exacerbations and airflow obstruction in patients aged 4 years and older with asthma or COPD, according to a press release by the agency.

Children with uncontrolled or undocumented control of their asthma symptoms were more likely to receive prescriptions for both oral and inhaled corticosteroids, according to research published in Clinical Pediatrics.

I followed a somewhat circuitous route to a career in ID. In medical school and residency, I was strongly drawn to oncology but got a bit distracted by also falling in love with viruses, especially retroviruses. I worked in research virology labs all through college and medical school, and as retroviruses were considered as potentially causing common cancers in humans, that research was typically found not in ID but rather in oncology divisions. I came to UCSF in 1978 for my oncology fellowship and to work in Jay Levy’s retrovirus lab. But when an ID giant, Merle Sande, offered me the chance to start a medical oncology division at San Francisco General Hospital immediately following the end of my training, I eagerly accepted. I left retrovirus research forever, only to walk into the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic on July 1,st 1981, when I saw the first Kaposi sarcoma KSpatient admitted to SFGH. I started the world’s first comprehensive AIDS clinic with Connie Wofsy, my ID counterpart in 1983 and when HIV was discovered (in part by Jay), I realized I might get back to my favorite viruses! While I still feel as if part of me is in oncology, my community is clearly ID! Definitely hooked on ID!