The Medical journal of Australia
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Eighty-six children aged three to 14 years were skin-tested for immediate hypersensitivity to antigens which are seasonal (grass pollens) or non-seasonal (car, dog, house-dust mite) in occurrence. Children who reached the age of three months during a time of environmental exposure to grass pollen demonstrated a significantly increased incidence of immediate hypersensitivity reactions to three grass pollens, as compared with children born at other times of the year. ⋯ These findings indicate a relationship between the time of birth and the subsequent development of immediate hypersensitivity in childhood. It is suggested that infants are particularly susceptible to sensitization when presented with antigen around three months of age.
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The survival of 320 patients, who were born in and after 1958 with cystic fibrosis and managed by the Departments of Thoracic Medicine and Gastroenterology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, is reviewed. Eighty per cent of patients survived to 11 years of age, and 64% to 18 years. ⋯ In the same period, 79% of patients survived for 16 years after diagnosis. Forty-four per cent of the 240 patients currently being managed have no significant permanent lung disease, and only 9% have advanced disease.