Anaphylaxis

Epinephrine auto-injectors can save lives in cases of anaphylaxis, but their needles are too long for toddlers and infants who weigh less than 15 kg, a device manufacturer confirms. The injectors can strike bone in small children.

Needles are so long they could strike bone in almost half of all pediatric auto-injectors, Canadian researchers report.

Research suggests support groups help teenagers with diagnosed allergies adhere consistently to guidelines that protect them against anaphylaxis and other reactions.

How expensive? Study results show that families with children who are allergic to staple food items pay out thousands of extra dollars each year in direct and indirect costs.

Although asthma increases the risk of anaphylaxis in children with milk allergies and reduces the chance that immunotherapy will prove fully successful, study results show that the majority of patients who undergo immunotherapy for a milk allergy can achieve a protective dose.

Earlier this year, a skin patch designed to reduce the risk of anaphylaxis and other severe reactions to peanuts became the first allergy treatment ever granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA.

Research indicates that many nannies know dangerously little about how to prevent, recognize, or treat severe allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Over the past year, school officials in several of the nation's largest states have implemented new policies to address the growing prevalence and severity of pediatric allergies by increasing access to epinephrine auto-injectors.

Results from a long-term trial indicate that sublingual immunotherapy, though quite safe, is rarely fully effective in people with severe peanut allergies.

The increasing prevalence of food allergies (along with increasing awareness of the dangers associated with those allergies) has famously led to food restrictions in schools and on commercial airlines. The trend has now spread to a venue that's strongly associated with the enjoyment of fresh roasted peanuts: baseball stadiums.

Research using mouse models may offer clues to potential prophylactic approaches for patients with venom sensitivity.

Recent studies of anaphylaxis and other allergic reactions induced by medications have informed a new set of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment drug hypersensitivity.

New research finds that flushing and dyspnea may help physicians spot unusually severe cases of anaphylaxis, cases that will put patients at particular risk and require more than a single dose of epinephrine.

A new meta-study of bee venom therapy finds considerable risk of anaphylaxis and other reactions, concluding that only experts should offer it to patients.

New research on the ability of particular peanut proteins to trigger IgE reactions in blood samples may reduce the need for potentially dangerous oral challenges.

New research indicates that restaurant workers are willing to accommodate patrons with severe food allergies, but are dangerously ill-informedill informed about the number of precautions needed to guard against reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Peanut allergy is a much-publicized pediatric concern, as is asthma. In a new study, a team of researchers from Ohio reported that many asthma patients were found to have a documented peanut allergy but were not aware of that fact.

Numerous studies have attempted to quantify the medical toll that severe food allergies inflict upon children. Now, a study from Sweden provides new data about the financial toll they inflict upon families.

New research indicated adolescents are twice as likely as younger kids to suffer from anaphylaxis and other severe allergic reactions while they are in school.

The use of corticosteroids for anaphylaxis or other severe allergic reactions is not associated with a reduction of relapses in the days following treatment.

Research indicates that around 12 percent of all children with diagnosed peanut allergies are accidentally exposed to peanuts in any given year, and that the majority of those exposures take place inside their own homes.

Study results show that incorrect use of inhalers and epinephrine autoinjectors is widespread among patients, which should prompt treating physicians to focus more on educating patients on proper use.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a strong warning on a drug used to treat iron deficiency anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Intravenous injections of ferumoxytol (Feraheme/Amag Pharmaceuticals) can cause serious allergic reactions including death in patients who are sensitive to the drug, the FDA cautioned in a new boxed warning. The drug was approved in 2009.

Study results indicate that the increasing rate and severity of obesity in western nations has rendered today's epinephrine autoinjectors an ineffective anaphylaxis treatment for many people.

A second trial of intranasal flu vaccines in children with egg allergies has reached the same conclusion as the first: The trace amounts of egg protein do not trigger systemic reactions such as anaphylaxis.

A trial of an anti-clotting therapy that might have given physicians a way to turn on and turn off the blood's tendency to clot had to be halted because some patients had severe allergic reactions, researchers reported. Now they are focusing on why that happened in hopes of reviving the work.

Study results that may soon trigger sweeping changes to pediatric nutrition guidelines indicate that sustained consumption of peanuts over the first 5 years of life dramatically lowers the risk of peanut allergies, even among high-risk children who begin with mild sensitivity to peanuts.

Researchers from Australia believe the bacteria in yogurt can help alleviate the food allergy that's most likely to cause anaphylaxis, but other experts want more evidence.

Results from a recent survey indicate that efforts to educate American doctors about the diagnosis and treatment of anaphylaxis have achieved mixed results.

Aterica Digital Health, based in Waterloo, Canada, has designed an EpiPen case that's difficult to lose or leave behind.The "Veta smart case" uses sensors, Bluetooth radios and other technology to broadcast its location and perform several other tricks that could help users survive anaphylaxis. The case itself works with an app that runs on either Apple iOS or Google Android. Whenever a user's smartphone and case get too far apart to communicate, an alert appears on the phone. If a user misplaces a case, the app can reveal its exact location by tracking the signal it emits.