Allergy

For millions of Americans, the last weeks of August mean the same thing every year: sneezing, a runny nose, and an itchy throat. But this summer's hot dry, weather could mean that allergy sufferers will get some relief -- or feel even worse than usual.Nobody quite knows what to expect this unpredictable season.Optimists, figuring that the drought killed off allergy-inducing ragweed, think patients will have an easy time. Some scientists believe the recent rainfall might merely delay the season.

If allergies weren't disruptive enough in a child's life, they can also lead to the more serious consequence of asthma."Childhood asthma is still on the upswing," said Dr. Richard Evans, chief of the allergy and immunology division at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "The hospitalization and emergency-room visit rates are up too."Evans is one of the primary researchers for a National Institutes of Health study about how to prevent asthma attacks in children. An asthma attack occurs when the bronchial tubes are obstructed because of inflammation or spasms and air cannot travel from the nose and mouth to the lungs.

ANYONE WHO watches enough television commercials knows there is no health decision so foolish, no disorder so debilitating, that it can't be overridden by a product at the drugstore.Heartburn keeps you up at night, but you just can't stand the boredom of a sensible diet? Have we got a pill for you! We're not allowed to tell you to grind up an extra one and sprinkle it on top of your chili dog with onions, but we sure can give you the impression that there is nothing our magic pill won't let you eat.Or do you sneeze just looking outside the window during allergy season?

Dr. David G. Marsh, 58, Hopkins faculty memberDr. David G. Marsh, a member of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School faculty who researched the genetic basis of allergies and asthma, died Sunday of a brain tumor at Stella Maris Hospice. He was 58 and lived in Glenarm.A native of London, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Birmingham and a doctorate in 1964 from Cambridge University. Both are in England.He began his career in 1966 at the California Institute of Technology as a research fellow and joined the Hopkins faculty in 1969.

The table looks like any other inside Ilchester Elementary School's cafeteria: a dozen first-graders chattering and feasting on shiny red apples, yogurt, cheese-flavored crackers and pizza slices.But one childhood staple is missing from this corner of the lunchroom: peanuts."I don't like to bring peanut butter. It makes me feel like I'm sick," says Julia Millard, a 6 1/2 -year-old first-grader at Ilchester's "Peanut Butter Free" table, meant for children who are allergic to peanuts and peanut products.

The company that recalled a million units of its emergency allergy-fighting injections last week has failed to deliver on its promise to provide quick replacements, leaving millions of Americans without medication they might need to stop life-threatening allergic reactions to food and insect bites.The self-injecting devices with the drug epinephrine were recalled last week because the maker, Meridian Medical Technologies of Columbia, discovered that certain lots were not potent enough to stop reactions that can lead to swelling, suffocation, blood pressure loss and shock.

A former Baltimore County police officer was given a five-year prison sentence yesterday for the 1995 hijacking of a United Parcel Service truck, despite his psychiatrist's testimony that allergy medicine may have caused a psychotic episode that led to crime.Dr. Dennis J. Kutzer, who has treated Joseph Goetz since he was arrested for holding up UPS driver William Yohn at gunpoint and stealing his truck, said the crime might have been prompted by two or three allergy tablets Goetz took the day of the hijacking.

Johns Hopkins Allergy and Asthma Center in Baltimore is seeking high school students who are allergic to ragweed to take the SAT in an effort to determine the effects of allergy medications on SAT scores.Student scores on the test, which will be administered tomorrow, will not appear on their records unless they request it.Candidates must be at least 14 years old and have completed their freshman year of high school. They also must never have taken the SATs.Those interested should call 1-800-845-3942.

The inhalers that are an essential part of daily life for many of the 24 million Americans with asthma and other respiratory diseases are due for a major overhaul, raising concerns among ** some patients and doctors about whether the medications they depend on will continue to be available.The proposed changes were announced earlier this year by the Food and Drug Administration. The plan, which has been in the works for years, is to phase out current inhalers, which usechlorofluorocarbon, or CFC, gases as a propellant to spray out a fine mist of medication that is inhaled through a mouthpiece.

A former Baltimore County police officer was given a five-year prison sentence yesterday for the 1995 hijacking of a United Parcel Service truck, despite his psychiatrist's testimony that allergy medicine may have caused a psychotic episode that led to crime.Dr. Dennis J. Kutzer, who has treated Joseph Goetz since he was arrested for holding up a UPS driver at gunpoint and stealing his truck, said the crime might have been prompted by the two or three allergy tablets Goetz took the day he commandeered the truck.

Ah, December. Cold, dry air, evergreen trees, boxes filled with holiday decorations - and possibly molds and dust - brought down from the attic. And you thought that this was an asthma- and allergy-free season. Among the estimated 16 million adults and 7 million children in the United States who have asthma, slightly more than half of the cases are attributable to allergies, says Dr. Alvin Sanico, medical director of the Asthma Sinus Allergy Program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University.

Families all over are talking about the quest to pick the right dog for President-elect Barack Obama's family. Because daughter Malia is allergic, there's a lot of talk about the Obamas getting a "hypoallergenic" dog. But one local allergy expert preaches caution. "The current talk about 'hypoallergenic' dogs ... can lead to negative outcomes if they perpetuate a myth and create unfounded expectations," Dr. Alvin Sanico, medical director of the Asthma Sinus Allergy Program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, wrote to me. "The fact is that all dogs and cats produce allergens that can be found in their dander and saliva, regardless of their breed and the length of their hair, or lack thereof," wrote Sanico, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Eight-year-old Justus Brown has had allergy problems before, but nothing like he experienced Sunday on the way to church in Towson - an attack that his parents blame on last week's record pollen counts. "He told me on Sunday morning he made a `funny noise' when he breathed," recalled his mother, Kenya Brown, 37, of Owings Mills. Justus was wheezing, and he knew something was wrong. "I thought I was going to die," he said. "It felt horrible every time I walked. Every second I had to bend down and catch my breath."

What's green and festive and makes you sneeze? It might be your Christmas tree. Allergists have long suspected that live Christmas trees are the culprits behind some folks' runny, itchy noses during the holidays -- and now one doctor believes he has proof. "I've been in practice for 30 years and, every year, between Christmas and New Year, we have everybody come in with recurring sinus infections," said Dr. John Santilli, a Connecticut allergy specialist. "We tell them, `Take down the tree,' but we never had the proof to show them."

Itchy, sneezy? If not, the yellow dust on your car proves that pollen counts are sky-high. Ann Pugh writes from Timonium, "Is there a time of day when the pollen count is the highest and the lowest? What weather conditions favor greater pollen and less pollen?" The allergy docs at Hopkins say most pollen levels climb in the afternoon, but some, like ragweed are highest just before sunrise. More pollen gets airborne in dry, windy weather. Rain cleanses the air briefly but promotes weed growth.

Now that it's harder to get decongestants containing pseudoephedrine, will cold and allergy sufferers have to make do with weaker over-the-counter drugs? That depends. As of Sept. 30, the effective date of an amendment to the U.S. Patriot Act, nasal products containing pseudoephedrine must be sold "behind the counter," which means the purchaser has to show a photo ID and sign a log book to get them. The idea is to make it harder for illegal drug suppliers to make methamphetamine from pseudoephedrine, though whether the new law will do so is an open question.

West Coast scientists studying cats and the allergies they trigger in humans discovered serendipitously that not all felines carry the sneeze-gene that produces troublesome allergens. If true - there's always room for doubt about early claims such as this - millions of allergy sufferers who are forced to love Felix and Sylvester from a distance might have a future in which they can have their cat and pet it, too. Not everyone, of course, is fond of mousers. But the country's estimated 30 million cats have their fans, and a big chunk of the $35 billion pet industry comes from cat owners.

Millions of miserable, sneezing, itching, nose-blowing hay fever sufferers could find a strand of hope in a DNA-based vaccine developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, who say it appears to squelch the body's allergic response to ragweed pollen. A small but promising study reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine says test subjects who had just six weekly injections of the vaccine - a fusion of bacterial DNA and ragweed protein - enjoyed a 60 percent reduction in allergy symptoms compared with people who got a placebo.

It's yellowjacket season. With their numbers rising and normal foods in short supply, the brassy bugs are crashing our picnics. They compete for our soda, beer, meat and ice cream, and they can deliver painful stings to the unwary. Sometimes they trigger severe allergic reactions. Scientists who study those reactions - by prodding the insects to sting volunteers - say they have encountered a lot of folklore about yellowjacket stings. And much of it turns out to be flat wrong. For example, many people insist that a yellowjacket's venom gets stronger as summer turns to fall.

The product: Holiday business gifts. The experts: Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic, professional shopaholics who host The Shopping Bags program on the Fine Living Network. What we want: Something nice but modest - this is not a who-can-top-whom spending contest. We must have: A business gift that's somewhat personal (like a tin of shortbread cookies if you know they're a favorite), and it also needs to be appropriate (no lingerie or clothing of any kind). What we hate: Don't get something to help them be more organized at work; the implied message being, "You need to be more organized!"