Number of asthmatics with cat allergies has doubled

It's estimated that 60 to 85 percent of people with asthma have at least one allergy, and it seems may of those people have one thing in common - cats.

A new study has revealed that the number of people with asthma that are also allergic to cats has more than doubled over an 18 year period.

“From 1976 to 1994, positive allergy skin tests in people with asthma have increased significantly,” said Leonard Bielory, MD, ACAAI fellow and study author. “Not only have we found the number of asthma sufferers allergic to cats has more than doubled, but those with asthma are also 32 percent more likely to be allergic to cats than those without asthma.”

The study also found those with asthma are more likely to be allergic to several environmental triggers  including ragweed, ryegrass and alternaria fungus.

“This study helps us better understand common trends in allergy and asthma, which can lead to improved diagnosis and treatment,” said allergist James Sublett, M.D., chair of the ACAAI Indoor Environment Committee. “While it is unknown exactly why there has been an increase in asthma and allergy sufferers, it is thought a number of environmental factors can be responsible.”

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Bacterial Protein in House Dust Spurs Asthma, Allergies

A bacterial protein in common house dust may worsen allergic responses to indoor allergens, according to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and Duke University. The finding is the first to document the presence of the protein flagellin in house dust, bolstering the link between allergic asthma and the environment.

Scientists from the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Duke University Medical Center published their findings in people and mice in the journal Nature Medicine.

“Most people with asthma have allergic asthma, resulting largely from allergic responses to inhaled substances,” said the paper’s corresponding author Donald Cook, Ph.D., an NIEHS scientist. His research team began the study to identify environmental factors that amplify the allergic responses. “Although flagellin is not an allergen, it can boost allergic responses to true allergens.”

After inhaling house dust, mice that were able to respond to flagellin displayed all of the common symptoms of allergic asthma, including more mucous production, airway obstruction, and airway inflammation. However, mice lacking a gene that detects the presence of flagellin had reduced levels of these symptoms.

“More work will be required to confirm our conclusions, but it’s possible that cleaning can reduce the amount of house dust in general, and flagellated bacteria in particular, to reduce the incidence of allergic asthma,” Cook said.

In addition to the mouse study, the research team also determined that people with asthma have higher levels of antibodies against flagellin in their blood than do non-asthmatic subjects, which provides more evidence of a link between environmental factors and allergic asthma in humans.

“More than 20 million Americans have asthma, with 4,000 deaths from the disease occurring each year,” added Darryl Zeldin, M.D., NIEHS scientific director and paper co-author. “All of these data suggest that flagellin in common house dust can promote allergic asthma by priming allergic responses to common indoor allergens.”

Air purifier in the bedroom helps asthma sufferers: Study

Exposure to irritants in the bedroom can
lead to asthma episodes during the day.

It’s something many people with asthma could have told you from experience, but now there is a study confirming it: A nighttime air filter can help ease asthma symptoms during the day.

The study was published online in Thorax and measured the effect of a specific airflow device, which displaced warmer air containing irritants and allergens with a slightly cooler airflow in the participants’ sleeping area.

By protecting the asthma sufferer from irritants and allergens during sleep, the researchers aimed to prevent exposure to triggers that lead to systemic allergic reactions and cause a typical narrowing of the airway.

The study was conducted across six European countries with patients that suffered from poorly controlled asthma. The researchers observed a 14-15% increase in life quality from the participants that used the device, as opposed to the control group with a dummy device.

Earlier studies of filtering or purifying the airflow have not yielded successful results, but this research seems to suggest that a reduction in inhaled aeroallergen exposure may have profound positive effects.

Source: Medical News Today

Bedroom air purifiers can remove allergens and irritants

Allergic asthma can be worse when the indoor air quality is not what it should be. Irritants such as house dust mites, pet hair and airborne chemicals can be reduced by running a serious air purifier for allergies and asthma in the bedroom.

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Living Near Busy Roadways Ups Chances of Allergic Asthma

An international team of lung experts has new evidence from a study in shantytowns near Lima, Peru, that teens living immediately next to a busy roadway have increased risk of allergies and asthma. The odds can go up by 30 percent for developing allergies to dust mites, pet hairs and mold, and can double for having actual asthma symptoms, such as wheezing and using medications to help them breathe.

The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, is believed to be the first to link heightened rates of allergic disease and exposure to traffic-related pollution as a possible reason for increased rates of asthma along major transit routes. Previous studies in Europe and North America relied on self reports of asthma symptoms or produced conflicting results on possible tie-ins with high levels of airborne pollution. Until now, experts say no study has looked at how busy roadways affect the allergic origins of asthma, a respiratory disease that afflicts some 17 million Americans, including some 5 million children.

Experts at Johns Hopkins who participated in the study also found that the risk of allergic disease, or atopy, and of having asthma among 725 teenagers, ages 13 through 15, was worst for those living immediately next to the busy road, where a steady stream of traffic across multiple lanes flowed unimpeded all day long. Atopy rates went up by 7 percent for every city block (approximately 300 feet) closer they lived to the road. For those who lived next to the road, the odds of having asthma were twice that of those who lived a quarter-mile (about four city blocks) away.

“Our study clearly shows why we need to protect respiratory health and plan future major roadways here or abroad away from residential areas and schools,” says senior study investigator and pulmonologist William Checkley, M.D., Ph.D. “We can also now try preventive strategies aimed at reducing allergic exposure near roadways to see if this lowers rates of asthma,” adds Checkley, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.



Checkley and lead study investigator Lauren Baumann, M.H.S., chose a poor district of Lima, called Pampas de San Juan de Miraflores, for their study because Peru has the highest rates of asthma symptoms among children in Latin America, at 26 percent. In addition, large numbers of shantytowns like San Juan de Miraflores have sprung up around the nation’s largest city within the last few decades, many with a single, congested and slow-moving main thoroughfare.

Baumann, a former Johns Hopkins graduate student in public health, says only the most-at-risk children were included in the study, pointing out that people who do not outgrow their asthma by their early teens are twice as likely to remain asthmatic through adulthood. The year-long study, begun in 2008, included home visits to measure lung function and environmental air pollutants.

“Family physicians and public health workers now know they need to more closely monitor children who live near major roadways for allergies and for the earliest signs of asthma,” says Checkley, who notes that his team next plans further studies on the underlying genetic profile of those at greater risk of atopy and asthma. “Our ultimate goal is to identify other key environmental stimuli or traffic-related pollutants that help trigger allergic disease, and then use our knowledge of how they work biologically to stop them before asthma sets in,” he says.


For additional information:

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/pulmonary/
http://faculty.jhsph.edu/default.cfm?faculty_id=1109
http://www.jacionline.org/
http://www.allerair.com/index.html

Seasonal Allergies Making Your Life Miserable? Blame Your SUV.

If you’re among the millions who suffer from allergies and allergic asthma, you know that this allergy season has been particularly bad and we all may be to blame.

According to a new report, our warming planet is creating the perfect conditions for a significant increase in pollen levels and bumper fall crops of ragweed in the years to come.

The National Wildlife Federation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reports that the changes will affect more than just your Kleenex consumption, but will cost the American economy more than $32 billion dollars in lost productivity, missed workdays and medical costs stemming directly from allergies.

Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist at the Wildlife Federation says that spring conditions are already arriving two weeks earlier than 20 years ago. She says that these longer growing seasons will produce even more allergy-provoking pollen and may allow highly allergenic trees like oaks and hickories to start replacing pines, spruces and firs that generally don't trigger allergies.

To cap off the bad news, the worst allergy-inducing plant, ragweed, will actually thrive over a longer, warmer growing season. In fact, there’s evidence that ragweed actually grows faster as carbon dioxide levels increase in our atmosphere.

Harvard University researchers reported similar results in 2002 study .
Hum…maybe we shouldn't be driving military vehicles to the grocery store after all.


Allergy Tip:
Speak to your HR manager or supervisor at work about installing air purifiers in your office.

Most companies are on the look-out for ways to cut absenteeism and implement “green” initiatives. Clean air has been proven to have a direct impact on productivity and employee satisfaction. A room air cleaner with a medical-grade HEPA filter will remove 99.97% of airborne pollen and other allergens. Check out AllerAir’s AirMedic that also remove airborne chemicals, gases and odors.