Free Republic

Los Angeles -- The father of a 5-year-old asthmatic girl has sued the apartment complex where the family lives in an attempt to stop residents from smoking in common areas. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, alleges that second-hand smoke from common areas around the complex have hurt Melinda Birke's health. The areas include the swimming pools, the barbecue areas, the children's playground, the outdoor dining area and the entrances to the rental office and clubhouse. The girl has had pneumonia three times since 2003, and has suffered from asthma and chronic allergies since she was 18 months old,...

After the long, dark cold of winter, many people look to spring to bring them bright sunshine, warmer weather - and non-stop sneezing, runny nose, and itchy eyes. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), seasonal allergic rhinitis, also known as "spring allergies" or "rose fever," is one of the most common allergic conditions in the United States, affecting approximately 36 million people (www.aaaai.org).

Looking for decongestants to relieve sinus and allergy symptoms soon could become a real headache. The same legislation that gives law-enforcement officials broad powers to identify terrorists now enables the government to track the sale of certain over-the-counter medications that can be abused or used by drug rings to manufacture methamphetamines.

April 6, 2006 — It's an annual rite of passage for those who suffer from seasonal allergies: sinuses so blocked it's difficult to breathe, a recurring headache, a feeling of constant "pressure" on the face. But for people like Michele Lynch who suffer from chronic sinusitis, allergy season seems to last all year. "I couldn't work. You can't breathe. I couldn't sleep," she said. Lynch, 24, had suffered from sinusitis most of her life — the result of abnormal bone growth in her sinuses. But a few weeks ago, doctors suggested she try a radically new treatment that's been available...

MONTREAL — A lack of oxygen to the brain likely played a role in the death of a teenager once thought to have died of a peanut allergy after kissing her boyfriend who had just eaten peanut butter, a Quebec coroner said Monday. Coroner Michel Miron told The Associated Press that it appeared that Christina Desforges, 15, had suffered from "cerebral anoxia," or a lack of oxygen to the brain, which caused serious damage. He provided no further details — other than to say that no foul play was suspected in Desforges' death — because he has yet to submit...

Saguenay, Que. — A fifteen-year-old girl with a severe peanut allergy did not die from kissing her boyfriend after he had eaten peanut butter, Saguenay coroner Michel Miron says. The story made headlines round the world, and Mr. Miron said he wants people to know that a peanut-butter sandwich did not cause the death of Christina Desforges last November. Mr. Miron would not reveal the cause of death, because he has not submitted his final report to the provincial coroner's office and is also waiting on some final test results. He said, however, that he wanted to speak out before...

Thinking she was having an asthma attack, Christina Desforges burst into a friend's room and woke him in a desperate search for medicine. Friends called an ambulance as her breathing grew labored, but Desforges collapsed a moment after she stepped outside. She died four days later. It quickly became clear the 15-year-old girl succumbed to a peanut allergy _ not from nuts she ate, but a peanut-butter sandwich her boyfriend had consumed before kissing her that day. A friend of the couple said in a television interview that Desforges' boyfriend and other companions had no idea she was allergic to...

Newhouse News Service Multiple-choice question: Why are more American kids allergic to foods, particularly peanuts? A) Their immune systems are confused by increasingly clean homes. B) Nervous parents wait too long to feed their children peanuts. C) We roast peanuts rather than boil them. D) Maybe one of the above, and/or something else. Unfortunately, the answer is "D." One study estimates American children's rate of allergy to peanuts and tree nuts (like walnuts and pecans) — about 1 percent of those under age 18 — has doubled in recent years. No one can say why. But whatever biological mysteries are...

A Quebec teenager with a peanut allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier.

Irish scientists are investigating parasitic worms to try to find new ways to prevent asthma and reduce allergies.Dr Padraic Fallon, from Trinity College Dublin, and colleagues have already managed to cure asthma in lab mice by infecting them with the tiny creatures. The team now has to explain how the parasites achieve this feat at a molecular level. If they can do that, they should then be able to synthesise a new drug compound to treat asthma in people. On the riseAsthma and other allergies have increased almost threefold over the last 30 years in many developed countries, including...

Do people who enjoy smoking have any rights? Increasingly, the answer is no. It is essential to keep in mind that smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes is an entirely personal choice. No one is required to smoke. Millions voluntarily stop smoking every year. People have been smoking, and enjoying tobacco products for a very long time, but now they have been demonized and ostracized. Using the power of government, to tax, smokers are being ripped off at every level. Recently, New York City sent letters to 2,300 residents giving them thirty days to pay the taxes on the cartons of...

At the age of 13, Liz Newman developed a catastrophic range of life-threatening allergies. She talks to Helen PiddThree years ago, Liz Newman was in a pub in Glasgow, having a drink with friends. All was going well, until a woman nearby opened a packet of dry roasted peanuts. Though the stranger was so far away that you wouldn't be able to conduct a conversation with her at normal volume, tiny nutty particles managed to make their way across the room and down Newman's gullet. Within minutes she was unconscious on the floor. She was having an anaphylactic shock, a...

LatexNatural rubber latex (NRL) has emerged over the last decade as an increasingly common trigger for anaphylaxis-producing allergies. It is found in a wide range of manufactured goods, including an estimated 40,000 common household items. Latex allergies now affect an estimated 1% to 6% of the U.S. population and the reasons for the increase in incidence can be attributed to biohazard precautions and manufacturing changes.1-3Latex allergy is an allergic sensitivity to the proteins in NRL that often worsens with each exposure, a phenomenon known as allergic sensitization. Allergic reactions to latex can range from moderate skin irritations to life-threatening anaphylaxis.You...

I never thought I would be doing a vanity on this but here it goes. I am interested in knowing how people cope with Spring allergies. I have never had them until this year apparently. I have had a sore throat now going into day 18,I have seen the doctor twice where once gave me Ketex and decongestion meds and those did nothing,so they ruled out the common cold or flu or any bacterial infection. My throat is still red,I still am congested,I have regular acid reflux (gerd) to be exact so when I sleep at night all of the...

New US government website attacked for comments on sexuality and effectiveness of condoms (Extract from one of the many articles in the gay and liberal press attacking the new semi honest position on useless condoms) The wording of information about condoms on the site is also potentially misleading (they mean factual). US abstinence education programmes usually only mention condoms when referring to their potential for failure. The 4parents.com site suggests that condoms offer only “moderate” protection against HIV and gonorrhoea, “less” protection against Chlamidya, herpes and human papilloma virus, and that the ability of condoms to protect against syphilis “has...

If you're a mouse, an attack of the sniffles when you scamper by a bit of cat hair may be a good thing - an early warning system allowing a quick getaway from the predator lurking under the bed. In the natural world, of course, mice rarely, if ever, suffer from cat allergies. But laboratory mice specially bred to be allergic to cats have been cured by researchers who have developed a novel approach to allergy treatment. The results may lead to better therapy for millions of people who are allergic to cats - including 14 percent of children from...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new chemical compound, part-cat and part-human, may provide an end to misery-making cat allergies, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. And they said their approach in creating the compound may work against more dangerous allergies, such as deadly peanut allergies. The compound, tested in mice bred to be allergic to cats, virtually shut down the histamine reaction that causes the uncomfortable symptoms of cat allergies such as runny eyes, sneezing and itching, Dr. Andrew Saxon of the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine and colleagues reported. Writing in the April issue of Nature Medicine, they...

Lunch trades outlawed to protect kids with allergies ORMONDALE SCHOOL JOINS THOSE THAT HAVE APPLIED TIGHTER RULES By Kim Vo Mercury News In the underground economy of school lunches, third-grader Siobhan Rickert explained, the demands are straightforward: ``If you give me this cookie, I'll give you this pretzel.'' But no more. This month, Ormondale School in Portola Valley began cracking down on lunch swaps. No more trading mom's turkey sandwich for a peanut butter and jelly -- or exchanging chocolate chip cookies for, well, just about anything you want. Ormondale joins a smattering of Bay Area schools that have banned...

Warm Weather Causing Allergies Provided by: The Associated Press Last Modified: 1/6/2005 4:52:05 PM ATLANTA (AP) -- The recent unusual warm spell in the South has brought people out in shorts and tee-shirts in January. It’s also brought about another warm-weather phenomenon -— allergies. Atlanta doctors and pharmacists are reporting an upsurge in sniffles, sneezes and coughs. This year, they’re from allergies, not winter colds. Pharmacists have been faced with restocking shelves with allergy medicines such as Claritin. Even herbal remedies have been hot sellers off the shelves. Doctor Keith Phillips, of Emory University, says it’s mold — not pollen...

For the more than 11 million Americans who suffer from food allergies, some news with a tantalizing aroma is emanating from Israel. Scientists from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have found a way to neutralize a sesame seed protein that causes allergies and they believe the technique can also be used to eliminate allergens in milk, peanuts and other common foods.