Food allergy is a common and increasing problem worldwide. The newly-found knowledge might provide novel experimental strategies, especially for laboratory diagnosis. Approximately 20% of the population alters their d...Food allergy is a common and increasing problem worldwide. The newly-found knowledge might provide novel experimental strategies, especially for laboratory diagnosis. Approximately 20% of the population alters their diet for a perceived adverse reaction to food, but the application of double-blind placebo-controlled oral food challenge, the ＂gold standard＂ for diagnosis of food allergy, shows that questionnaire-based studies overestimate the prevalence of food allergies. The clinical disorders determined by adverse reactions to food can be dassified on the basis of immunologic or nonimmunologic mechanisms and the organ system or systems affected. Diagnosis of food allergy is based on clinical history, skin prick tests, and laboratory tests to detect serum-food specific IgE, elimination diets and challenges. The primary therapy for food allergy is to avoid the responsible food. Antihistamines might partially relieve oral allergy syndrome and IgE-mediated skin symptoms, but they do not block systemic reactions. Systemic corticosteroids are generally effective in treating chronic IgE-mediated disorders. Epinephrine is the mainstay of treatment for anaphylaxis. Experimental therapies for IgE-mediated food allergy have been evaluated, such as humanized IgG anti-IgE antibodies and allergen specific immunotherapy.展开更多
Schistosomiasis is a chronic worm infection caused by a species of trematodes, the Schistosomes. We may distinguish a urinary form from Schistosomes haematobium and an intestinal-hepatosplenic form mainly from Schisto...Schistosomiasis is a chronic worm infection caused by a species of trematodes, the Schistosomes. We may distinguish a urinary form from Schistosomes haematobium and an intestinal-hepatosplenic form mainly from Schistosomes mansonicharacterized by nausea, meteorism, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea,rectal tenesmus, and hepatosplenomegaly. These infections represent a major health issue in Africa,Asia, and South America, but recently S mansoni has increased its prevalence in other countries, such as Europe countries and USA, due to international travelers and immigrants, with several diagnostic and prevention problems. We report a case of a 24-yearold patient without HIV infection, originated from Ghana, admitted for an afebrile dysenteric syndrome.All microbiologic studies were negative and colonoscopy revealed macroscopic lesions suggestive of a bowel inflammatory chronic disease. Since symptoms became worse, a therapy with mesalazine (2 g/d) was started,depending on the results of a bowel biopsy, but without any resolution. The therapy was stopped after 2 wk when the following result was available: a diagnosis of"intestinal schistosomiasis" was done (two Schistosoma eggs were detected in the colonic mucosa) and this was confirmed by the detection of Schistosoma eggs in the feces. Therapy was therefore changed to praziquantel(40 mg/kg, single dose), a specific anti-parasitic agent,with complete recovery. Schistosomiasis shows some peculiar difficulties in terms of differential diagnosis from the bowel inflammatory chronic disease, as the two disorders may show similar colonoscopic patterns.Since this infection has recently increased its prevalence worldwide, it was considered in the differential diagnosis of our patient with gastrointestinal symptoms.展开更多
文摘Food allergy is a common and increasing problem worldwide. The newly-found knowledge might provide novel experimental strategies, especially for laboratory diagnosis. Approximately 20% of the population alters their diet for a perceived adverse reaction to food, but the application of double-blind placebo-controlled oral food challenge, the ＂gold standard＂ for diagnosis of food allergy, shows that questionnaire-based studies overestimate the prevalence of food allergies. The clinical disorders determined by adverse reactions to food can be dassified on the basis of immunologic or nonimmunologic mechanisms and the organ system or systems affected. Diagnosis of food allergy is based on clinical history, skin prick tests, and laboratory tests to detect serum-food specific IgE, elimination diets and challenges. The primary therapy for food allergy is to avoid the responsible food. Antihistamines might partially relieve oral allergy syndrome and IgE-mediated skin symptoms, but they do not block systemic reactions. Systemic corticosteroids are generally effective in treating chronic IgE-mediated disorders. Epinephrine is the mainstay of treatment for anaphylaxis. Experimental therapies for IgE-mediated food allergy have been evaluated, such as humanized IgG anti-IgE antibodies and allergen specific immunotherapy.
文摘Schistosomiasis is a chronic worm infection caused by a species of trematodes, the Schistosomes. We may distinguish a urinary form from Schistosomes haematobium and an intestinal-hepatosplenic form mainly from Schistosomes mansonicharacterized by nausea, meteorism, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea,rectal tenesmus, and hepatosplenomegaly. These infections represent a major health issue in Africa,Asia, and South America, but recently S mansoni has increased its prevalence in other countries, such as Europe countries and USA, due to international travelers and immigrants, with several diagnostic and prevention problems. We report a case of a 24-yearold patient without HIV infection, originated from Ghana, admitted for an afebrile dysenteric syndrome.All microbiologic studies were negative and colonoscopy revealed macroscopic lesions suggestive of a bowel inflammatory chronic disease. Since symptoms became worse, a therapy with mesalazine (2 g/d) was started,depending on the results of a bowel biopsy, but without any resolution. The therapy was stopped after 2 wk when the following result was available: a diagnosis of"intestinal schistosomiasis" was done (two Schistosoma eggs were detected in the colonic mucosa) and this was confirmed by the detection of Schistosoma eggs in the feces. Therapy was therefore changed to praziquantel(40 mg/kg, single dose), a specific anti-parasitic agent,with complete recovery. Schistosomiasis shows some peculiar difficulties in terms of differential diagnosis from the bowel inflammatory chronic disease, as the two disorders may show similar colonoscopic patterns.Since this infection has recently increased its prevalence worldwide, it was considered in the differential diagnosis of our patient with gastrointestinal symptoms.
