I read about a vaccine given to cats to make them less allergenic. Is that true? Not only is it true, but it works. Swiss scientists coupled cat feline protein number one (the cause of most human cat allergy) to a cucumber mosaic virus and vaccinated cats. The vaccine was safe for the cats and led to a marked reduction in their feline protein number one. This research could provide a revolutionary new approach to humans with cat allergy: making…
Patients with COPD can have an exacerbation of their breathing problem for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is due to infection, but not always. The New England Journal of Medicine just published research that indicated a very simple test that can determine if the exacerbation is due to infection (and therefore should be treated with antibiotics) is to measure a C-reactive protein (CRP). If it is elevated, it indicates infection.
Vancomycin is a strong antibiotic that has found a great utility in treating serious drug resistant infections. Generally it is a safe choice, but in a small percentage of patients it can cause a severe systemic allergy. New research has discovered that a gene called HLA-A 32:01 is the factor predisposing to this allergic response.
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You tested me to see if my childhood recollection of penicillin allergy was still valid. Even though the tests showed I was not allergic my PCP still won’t prescribe it when I need an antibiotic. Why the reluctance? The simple and short answers are; medical malpractice and labeling. Roughly 10% of malpractice suits are concerning medication errors. Physicians are aware of this. For some reason, once a person is labeled as “penicillin allergic” there is great reluctance to remove this…
By: Sasha Klemawesch, MD Electrically augmented wound healing may seem farfetched. I mean, most people were taught not to stick their finger in the light socket. So, exploiting electricity to help heal wounds may seem ludicrous. But when you think about it, doctors have been using electricity in various forms for years. Even back in ancient Greece, there is evidence of electric eels being used in foot basins to help with circulation and pain. Nowadays, Pacemakers and AICD’s (implantable…
By: Sasha Klemawesch, MD Many people have heard of C-diff. If infected, you could be stuck at home in your bathroom with annoying (but benign) diarrhea, or you may wind up in surgery or the ICU with life threatening complications. And while many people have heard of the disease, few are aware of how difficult it can be to eradicate. Now get ready for a scary fact. You might have C-diff. Yes, you. In fact, up to 3% of…
By: Sasha Klemawesch, MD It may sound crazy, but cure rates for FMT (fecal microbiota transplant) are typically over 90% for recurrent cases. What is FMT you ask? Basically, a poop slushy. Sounds gross, but that’s what it is; poop is taken from a healthy donor who has been thoroughly screened for pathogenic bacteria. It is then filtered, mixed with liquid and administered to the recipient patient in one of several ways; either capsule pills, NGT or endoscopy (tube…
If you haven’t heard of a Daith piercing, you are not alone. That is the proper name for an earring that is placed through that little triangle of cartilage that sits in the front middle of the entrance to our ear canal. Whether this is fashionable or not is almost as debatable as whether or not it can help headaches. There is a large community of migraine sufferers out there who swear that having a Daith piercing has cured or…
The short answer is NO. First off, a single plus sign on your testing form represents the mildest of reactions; more of a potential sensitivity than a truly clinically significant allergy (especially if all your other fish and shellfish were negative across the board). Secondly, even if you did have major atopic complications due to fish or shellfish, those should not translate to fish OIL, since all allergens, by definition, are (molecular-structurally-speaking), proteinaceous. Fish oil’s name says it all, it…