Postgraduate medicine
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Postgraduate medicine · Jul 1984
Imported fire ant allergy. Perspectives on diagnosis and treatment.
As the imported fire ant relentlessly expands its territory, more and more people are at risk of the insects' discomforting and sometimes dangerous stings. Thus, all primary care physicians in fire ant-infested areas should be familiar with diagnosis and treatment of fire ant stings and of allergic reactions to the stings. ⋯ Diagnosis of fire ant allergy can be readily made by the radioallergosorbent test (RAST) or by skin testing using fire ant wholebody extract. Immunotherapy with fire ant whole-body extract in allergic individuals can prevent serious recurrent systemic reactions.
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Postgraduate medicine · Jul 1984
Case ReportsInsomnia and its treatment. When are hypnotics justified?
Symptomatic treatment of transient insomnias is advisable, for without treatment these sleep disorders may become persistent. The drugs of choice are the benzodiazepine hypnotics, which have minimal side effects when used for short periods in properly selected patients. ⋯ Transient insomnias must be differentiated from persistent insomnias, which are more resistant to treatment. Hypnotic agents not only are more likely to be ineffective against persistent insomnias but also have greater potential for exacerbating a sleep-related breathing disorder, producing a drug-dependent insomnia, or contributing to drug misuse.