Allergy & Immunology
Treating HIV-infected People with Antiretrovirals Protects Partners from Infection
Findings Result from NIH-funded International Study
Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Pathogens exposure reduces atopy but not wheezing in Brazilian children
The epidemic of asthma and atopy has been explained by alterations in immune responses related to a reduction in childhood infections. However, the findings of epidemiological studies investigating the association between infection and atopy or asthma are inconsistent, and none have investigated the effects of pathogen exposures on allergy in a developing country environment in a context where intestinal helminth infections are endemic.
Many asthma attacks due to patients not using their medication
Published Online: October 24, 2011
Inhaled corticosteroids are considered the most effective treatment for controlling asthma symptoms and preventing asthma attacks. Yet, poor adherence to prescribed inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medication by patients is common. Measuring the contribution of this medication underuse to asthma attacks is difficult since patients with asthma often take their medication episodically based on their waxing and waning symptoms.
