Allergen Immunotherapy is the only disease modifying treatment available for Allergic conditions, including allergic rhinitis, asthma, and bee venom allergy. It improves symptoms by reducing disease severity and reduces the need for medications leading to better quality of life. This is being accomplished by inducing tolerance while on the treatment, but also years after the treatment was stopped. For patient with a history of anaphylaxis after a bee sting, this would be lifesaving treatment! Tolerance induction to a specific allergen happens through modulating the immune response toward the specific allergen. Allergy testing would lead to the identification of the causative allergen. Immunotherapy can be done either by Sublingual spray or subcutaneous injections. A similar treatment is now also available for patients suffering with recurrent episodes of urine tract infections. Both the innate and adaptive immune systems are being stimulated to prevent future infections caused by the four most common implied bacterial strains. This treatment will improve quality of life for sure and reduce the need for future antibiotic use and protecting against development of antibiotic resistance.
For further information, watch the video clip and contact the Allergy and Asthma clinic for appointments.
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Living with allergies lead to poor quality of life, not only for the affected person, but often for a whole family. Restrictions on where they live, what foods are available in the house and their freedom on dining at restaurants is the cause of lots of stress in these families. Food allergies are on the increase worldwide. It unfortunately is still not taken seriously by too many people, especially in the food manufacturing industry. The “Big 8” needs to be mentioned on labels as reading labels and avoiding the food group the patient is allergic too, is all we can offer them.
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This year the topic is: Anaphylaxis: Be aware, Be Prepared and Save lives. We became accustomed to our president talking about COVID-19 and the importance of saving lives and livelihood. I want to add to this - saving lives of allergic patients and protecting their liveliness. Patients that had an anaphylactic reaction often live in fear to go out and eat at a restaurant friend’s house. Parents of these children will not allow them to attend birthday parties or participate in events away from their known environment. This is why we need to investigate patients to identify the culprit causing the reaction. If bee venom was the cause, the patient can be effectively desensitised. Adrenalin and a treatment plan need to be available and at hand.

For many years we advised mothers of new-born babies and from an allergic family, to only start feeding the baby solids at 6 months of age. They were also advised to avoid allergenic foods like egg, peanut, and fish even up to 9 and 12 months.
New research changed this perception, and we now know that exposing infants earlier to foods in their diet might be protective. Solids should be introduced at 4 months of age while still breastfeeding, as breast is best! or on formular milk. Allergenic foods like peanut should be introduced early and mothers need to consult with a dietician or doctor about this.

An asthmatic patient usually has a reliever inhaler nearby to use in case of an acute asthma exacerbation. It used to be short acting ß-agonist that acts fast. The guidelines changed a year ago due to overwhelming data that showed the danger of overusing that kind of inhaler too frequently. It is perceived to be safe by the patients since it is available over the counter.
If you still are following old ways of short acting ß-agonist usage, please consult with your medical practitioner to get a new treatment plan. If you need to use any reliever more than three times a week, your asthma is not controlled, and your controlled treatment needs to be adjusted. This is a process, just as a Diabetic patient needs to adjust their treatment regularly.

Allergy testing and the interpretation of these tests have changed over the years as we gain more insight in allergic conditions and the way the immune response reacts to allergens. Many people, especially children, are advised to avoid wheat from their diets due to a seemingly positive blood test or skin prick test for wheat. This might be due to a false positive reaction because the patient is grass allergic. Grass allergy is quite common in our sunny South Africa with long pollen seasons. The proteins that elicit a reaction when allergic to grass, also is present in the test for wheat. We have new levels that we take into consideration when interpreting tests results to avoid confusion. Blood tests to distinguish between cross-reaction of true allergy, is available.