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Allergy News Update

© Colleen Kaemmerer

Have you considered that perhaps you really are allergic to work? :-) According to a study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Medicine, you may be. Researchers say that the workplace should be considered as a possible cause of adult-onset asthma and allergies. Furthermore, workplace-induced asthma is often incorrectly diagnosed as bronchitis. One reason is that the time span between exposure and the appearance of symptoms varies widely; in other words, you may not begin wheezing within a week after starting a new job. In reality, a noticeable reaction might take weeks or even years to develop. Workers most at risk are exposed to animals and plants, other people's homes, chemicals, or latex. More information can be found at: http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728... .The rise in occupational allergies and asthma is also discussed at http://allergy.mcg.edu/news/occall.html .

A somewhat related article at http://www.drkoop.com/news/stories/decem... reports that a case study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that foods which are exposed to latex may cause similar allergic reactions as latex products themselves. It suggests that the food industry should work to eliminate the use of latex in food handling.

Did you know the "fragrance free" may not mean what you think it does? The December issue of The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology stated that allergic reactions (such as contact dermatitis) to cosmetic and cleaning products can be attributed mainly to the fragrance ingredients. If you're sensitive to a particular scent, you can avoid the item, but because products labeled "fragrance free" can include natural or synthetic fragrances to mask the smell of other ingredients, reactions to presumably allergen-free products do occur. More on this can be found at http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728... .

In a survey commissioned by the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology it was learned that 38% of the population is affected by allergies - twice the number than has generally been thought. In addition, the ACAAI found that 60% of U.S. adults knew of only avoidance or medication for handling allergies and were not familiar with immunotherapy (i.e. allergy shots). Furthermore, 68% get most of their allergy information from medication advertisements. According the Reuters article published by MSNBC, Dr. Warren Filley, of the ACAAI, said that many people with allergy symptoms do not seek professional medical advice, but only take over-the-counter medications.

Here are a few of the most recent allergy-related recalls:

SC Johnson has voluntarily recalled Allercare Dust Mite Carpet Powder and Allercare Dust Mite Allergen Spray. This recall is due to the fact that a small percentage (less than 1%) of people had a reaction to the fragrance in these products. For further information visit: http://www.allercare.com/announcement.ht...

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