THE GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN OF ALLERGIC DISEASES AND ASTHMA Allergies affect up to 30 to 40% of the population worldwide, and the severity and complexity of allergic diseases, including asthma, continue to increase. This escalation in the prevalence of allergies is especially seen in children and young adults, and they bear the greatest burden of these trends. Globally, 300 million people ...

Food allergy affects approximately 2% of the general US population, and its prevalence seems to be increasing. Despite the potential for a fatal outcome, no definitive therapies are available for food allergy. This article reviews novel approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy. Improved diagnostic methods include more precise in vitro and in vivo tests for immunoglobulin E-med...

Food allergy is a multisystem disorder. It presents with various neurological manifestations. In a clinical study of 25 children attending a food allergy clinic the following neurological features were detected: Irritability 25 (100%) Behaviour problem18 (72%) Hyperactivity 16 (64%) Migraine 13 (52%) Fatigue 13 (52%) Clumsiness 4 (16%) Over the years clinical practice also showed that the diagn...

Any abnormal reaction resulting from the ingestion of a food could be considered an adverse food reaction, and not necessarily a food allergy. In the evaluation of a patient with a history of an adverse reaction to food, one must consider the broad differential diagnosis before labelling the patient as ‘allergic’ to a foodstuff. The classification of adverse reactions to food is discussed, and ...

• Meet with school staff, including the school nurse, food service manager and teachers to let them know of your child’s allergy. o Start early – don’t wait until the school year starts! • Provide information, including a WRITTEN EMERGENCY TREATMENT PLAN from your child’s doctor about the allergy including: o How to recognize an allergic reaction, how to treat it, who to contact, and how to act...

Severe iodine deficiency results in impaired thyroid hormone synthesis and thyroid enlargement. In the United States, adequate iodine intake is a concern for women of childbearing age and pregnant women. Beyond this high risk group iodine deficiency is not considered to be a significant problem. This case report describes a 12-year-old male with severe iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) resulting...

Neurogastroenterology is a subspecialty encompassing relations of the nervous system to the gastrointestinal tract. The central concept is emergence of whole organ behavior from coordinated activity of the musculature, mucosal epithelium, and blood vasculature. Behavior of each effector is determined by the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS is a minibrain positioned close to the effectors i...

Despite increasing efforts to prevent food allergies in children, IgE-mediated food allergies continue to rise in westernized countries. The World Health Organisation recommends that during the first six months of life, infants be exclusively breast fed, and that weaning onto solids and milk formula should only occur after that period. Specific avoidance of foods such as egg and peanut in atopi...