INTRODUCTION The clinical concept of urticaria embraces a heterogeneous group of conditions classified according to their clinical course as acute (lasting less than 6 weeks) or chronic (lasting 6 weeks or more). Chronic urticaria may be either spontaneous or induced. Few tools are available for monitoring the various clinical forms of this disease or for evaluating its impact on quality of lif...

INTRODUCTION Schnitzler Syndrome is an uncommon, inflammatory condition that presents with a constellation of chronic unremitting urticaria, fever, bone pain, arthralgia or arthritis, and a monoclonal IgM gammopathy. There is usually neutrophilia and raised inflammatory markers. Delayed diagnosis is common and treatment often unsuccessful. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of a 43-year-old...

269 Refractory Chronic Urticaria Treated with Omalizumab Martinez Saenz, NP, Ramírez Del Pozo, ME, Lopez Tiro JJ, and Javier Gomez Vera, MD. Alergia e inmunologia clínica, Hospital Regional Lic. Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Distrito Federal, Mexico. Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) is a common disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of urticaria pruritic erythematous lesions, associated with ang...

BACKGROUND The primary role of infections in chronic urticaria (CU) is controversial. We hypothesised that streptococcal tonsillitis (ST) could be a primary cause of CU or acute recurrent urticaria (ARU). METHODS Retrospective study of 14 outpatients observed between January 2000 and December 2009, with CU/ARU and clinical and/or laboratorial suspicion of an aetiopathogenic link with ST. Clin...

I read with interest the consensus guidelines on chronic urticaria by Steven KW Chow and colleagues [1] but have reservations with the statement that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) should usually be avoided in chronic urticaria with or without angioedema. Although the EAACI/ GALEN/EDF/WAO position paper does allude to the fact that ACEIs come second to non-steroidal anti-infla...

Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is a common skin condition that affects 0.1-3 % of people in the USA and Europe and accounts for nearly 75 % of all chronic urticaria cases. Up to 40 % of patients who have chronic urticaria for more than 6 months still have urticarial wheals 10 years later. The therapeutic management should first be oriented towards palliation of symptoms. A 2 % solution of e...

Sir, Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is defined as the occurrence of wheals on most days for more than 6 weeks in the absence of any known causative or triggering agents (1). Most cases of chronic urticaria are classified as ‘idiopathic’, despite intense efforts to determine any aetiological factor, and require long-term treatment with H1-receptor antagonists, which are the first-line approa...

Schnitzler’s syndrome is a rare clinical condition characterized by chronic urticaria, intermittent fever, bone pain, arthralgia or arthritis, and monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) gammopathy. Here we describe a 64-year-old Taiwanese male with a long history of arthralgia, fever, and chronic urticaria with severe pruritus. The IgMmonoclonal component in the serum was detected 2 years after the ...

Wheat is widely consumed all over India in various forms--flour, daliya, maida, suji and wheat bran. Very few cases of wheat induced urticaria have been reported. This may be due to unusual features of wheat related hypersensitivity. A 35 year old female presented to us with history of chronic urticaria and angioedema. History revealed correlation between wheat intake and urticaria episodes. Pr...

BACKGROUND Many physicians believe that the most effective way to treat chronic urticaria is to take a nonsedating second-generation H1 -antihistamine in the morning and a sedating first-generation H1 -antihistamine, usually hydroxyzine, at night to enhance sleep. But is this belief well founded? OBJECTIVES To test this belief by comparing the effectiveness and prevalence of unwanted sedative...