Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology
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We report on a patient who experienced allergic reactions after eating goat cheese and after touching goat and sheep cheese, but not after consuming cow's milk dairy products. ⋯ This patient developed allergy to goat and sheep cheese with good tolerance to cow's milk. We identified goat casein as the main allergen causing sensitization in this patient as demonstrated by in vivo and in vitro tests. A high degree of cross-reactivity between goat and sheep casein was observed.
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Airway hyperresponsiveness to histamine is a hallmark of asthma, and histamine inhalation reproduces asthma symptoms. Plasma histamine concentrations are elevated during the early and late responses to inhaled allergens, and may also increase during spontaneous acute asthma episodes. ⋯ In moderate persistent asthma, clinical benefits of H1 antagonists are apparent, but may not be worth the potential risks of the higher-than-usual doses required. When mild seasonal asthma and allergic rhinitis coexist, however, relief of rhinitis symptoms with H1 antagonists administered in ordinary dose is associated with significant improvement in asthma symptoms.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effect of inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate for 2 years in patients with nonasthmatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with inhaled and oral corticosteroids is common, although their exact role is unclear. Previous studies suggest these drugs may reduce decline in lung function in this group of patients. We report a study investigating the effect of inhaled beclomethasone diproprionate (BDP) on lung function and symptoms in a group of patients with COPD. ⋯ Exacerbation rates were also reduced by inhaled BDP, but again the differences failed to reach conventional levels of statistical significance. The results of this study are consistent with previous published work, but further insight into the long-term role of corticosteroids in COPD await the publication of large studies which have recently been completed. Although the changes seen in this study and others are numerically small, the rate of decline in FEV1 returned to normal levels expected from age-related decline, and hence such treatment combined with other strategies may well have a significant role in the long-term treatment of this condition.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effect of fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray on allergen-induced inflammatory changes in the nasal airways of allergic rhinitics following exposure to nitrogen dioxide.
The authors have recently demonstrated that prior exposure for 6 h to 400 p.p.b. nitrogen dioxide significantly enhances the early phase response of eosinophils in the nasal airways of allergic rhinitics to subsequent allergen provocation. ⋯ These results suggest that FP influences NO2- and allergen-induced changes in eosinophil function, as well as eosinophil number in the nasal airway of allergic rhinitics.