Allergies News and Research

Latest Allergies News and Research

AAFA releases new 'Spring Allergy Capital' rankings

Today is the vernal equinox – otherwise known as the official end of winter and the start of spring. But even if you didn't look at your calendar today, chances are your nose already figured it out. That's because more than 40 million Americans have nasal allergies.

20 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific lauds private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty

Boston Scientific Corporation welcomes a milestone in private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty (BT) performed using the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System. Minnesota-based HealthPartners and Michigan-based Priority Health recently issued the first public postings of positive insurance coverage policies providing their respective memberships with reimbursement for this novel procedure to treat severe asthma.

19 Mar 2012

Addition of two MRI sequences to MRPA improves detection of pulmonary embolism

New research shows that the addition of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences to a common MR angiography technique significantly improves detection of pulmonary embolism, a potentially life-threatening condition traditionally diagnosed through computed tomography.

19 Mar 2012

BC BS of Florida retires negative medical policy for FeNO testing

Aerocrine AB announces that BlueCross BlueShield (BC BS) of Florida1 has retired/archived their negative medical policy for FeNO testing. The change is effective March 15, 2012.

17 Mar 2012

Antibiotics may increase incidence and severity of allergic asthma in early life

Widely used antibiotics may increase incidence and severity of allergic asthma in early life, according to a University of British Columbia study.

17 Mar 2012

Warming climate may increase risk from Chagas disease

In the spring of 1835, Charles Darwin was bitten in Argentina by a "great wingless black bug," he wrote in his diary. "It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one's body," Darwin wrote, "before sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards round & bloated with blood."

16 Mar 2012

Serious climate change-related health problems will affect the world's population

Worldwide increases in the incidences of asthma, allergies, infectious and cardiovascular diseases will result from a variety of impacts of global climate change, including rising temperatures, worsening ozone levels in urban areas, the spread of desertification, and expansions of the ranges of communicable diseases as the planet heats up, the professional organization representing respiratory and airway physicians stated in a new position paper released today.

16 Mar 2012

Allergy-free egg in the making

Researchers at CSIRO and experts at Geelong's Deakin University have found a way to “switch off” four egg allergens. These modified eggs could produce chickens that lay hypoallergenic eggs but the genes and DNA of the chicken would remain unaltered.

15 Mar 2012

Wireless asthma inhaler training device could help save thousands of A&E visits and lives

Many asthma patients are not trained adequately to inhale from asthma inhaler devices. This is a problem that can be both serious and expensive considering some 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to and 11 people die from asthma every day, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

13 Mar 2012

Researchers identify genetic signature for eosinophilic esophagitis

Researchers have identified a genetic signature for a severe, often painful food allergy – eosinophilic esophagitis – that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for children unable to eat a wide variety of foods.

12 Mar 2012

Positive phase II trial results from Circassia's ragweed allergy therapy

Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced that its ragweed allergy therapy has achieved positive results in a key phase II clinical trial.

8 Mar 2012

Majority of Missourians continue to favor nonprescription access to PSE-containing medicines

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) released today a recent poll that found a majority of Missourians -- by a margin of 16 percent -- continue to favor nonprescription access to safe and effective medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PSE), such as Advil Cold & Sinus, Allegra-D, Claritin-D, Mucinex-D, and Sudafed over a prescription mandate.

7 Mar 2012

Timely treatment with Berinert provides faster symptom relief for HAE patients

CSL Behring announced today that treatment with Berinert, C1 Esterase Inhibitor (Human) within six hours of the onset of an acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) attack provides faster symptom relief than later treatment, according to data presented at the 2012 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting.

7 Mar 2012

Rep. Sensenbrenner sends 'fact-finding letter' to White House science adviser about bird flu studies

"Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a former head of the House committees on science and the judiciary, and currently vice chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, last week sent a 'fact-finding letter' to White House science adviser John Holdren, asking pointed questions about how the U.S. government has handled the controversy" surrounding two studies that showed how H5N1 bird flu virus could be manipulated to become transmissible among ferrets, a model for humans, "and questioning whether it should have funded the two flu studies," ScienceInsider reports.

6 Mar 2012