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Royal Swedish Academy Award Winner Urges
Wider Use of Specific IgE Testing
4/8/2002
Pharmacia Diagnostics
STOCKHOLM (April 8, 2002) — S.G.O. Johansson, M.D.,
Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who last
Friday was co-recipient of a prestigious Royal Swedish Academy
of Science (RSAS) award for his pioneering work in allergy
disease, today urged primary care physicians worldwide to
respond to the World Allergy Organization’s (WAO) call
to improve their ability to diagnose and treat allergies
and allergy-like diseases. Dr. Johansson serves as WAO’s
immediate past president.
Johansson shared the RSAS award with Hans Bennich, Ph.D.,
retired professor of biochemistry, the University of Uppsala.
Their seminal research in the 1960s contributed to the discovery
of immunoglobulin E (IgE), a class of antibody proteins that
the body produces in response to allergens, and led to a
basic understanding of the mechanisms behind allergic disease.
Together with a colleague, they also developed the very first
blood test for allergy, which laid the basis for sophisticated
technologies (such as the ImmunoCAP™ Allergy blood
test) that today allow specialists and non-specialists to
determine with a simple test whether upper respiratory disease
(URD) or certain childhood conditions are allergy or not.
“As good medicine dictates, physicians routinely
depend on objective evidence, in addition to patient history,
to diagnose dozens of disorders,” Johansson noted, “ranging
from diabetes to high cholesterol, from anemia to prostate
cancer. Allergy specialists,” he went on, “always
test before they decide whether a patient has allergies,
but primary care physicians rarely do so. This is perhaps
why, as a recent study shows, as many as two of three patients
in the United States receiving expensive prescriptions to
treat allergy-like symptoms don’t have allergies at
all.”
“Furthermore,” Johansson added, “many
infants and young children develop repeated skin rashes and
eczema or gastrointestinal symptoms because they are sensitive
to common foods, such as cow’s milk, eggs, wheat or
peanuts. But primary care physicians are not trained to recognize
the underlying cause of these atypical allergy symptoms.
Unfortunately, a child who continues to be exposed to these
foods is likely to go on to develop other allergies or even
asthma. This progression from food hypersensitivity to advanced
disease is sometimes called ‘the allergy march.’ It
is important that primary care physicians use available technology
to help parents interrupt the allergy march by identifying
and avoiding specific foods that threaten their children’s
health.”
More than 100 million Americans suffer at times from allergy-like
symptoms associated with URD, but only one-third actually
have allergic rhinitis, which is always IgE mediated. The
others have conditions that are grouped under two other headings,
non-allergic rhinitis and sinusitis. These are not IgE mediated,
but their symptoms can closely resemble those of allergic
rhinitis, and differentiating between them can be quite difficult.
Although the newer antihistamines are very effective for
treating allergies, their effectiveness in treating non-allergic
rhinitis or sinusitis is questionable, which underscores
the need for accurate diagnosis.
“Even in the United States, whose healthcare system
is very advanced, primary care physicians are generally unaware
of the importance of testing for IgE antibody to allergens
like pollens, mites and cat dander in the differential diagnosis
of URD patients or in detecting allergy to foods,” said
Johansson. “Though the WAO’s flagship educational
initiative, GLORIA™ (Global Resources in Allergy),
seeks to improve allergy-related patient care in all areas
of medicine,” he added, “one important goal is
to help primary care physicians better diagnose and treat
the huge number of patients they see who may or may not have
allergies or hypersensitivities. A key step in that process
is to identify the IgE antibody causing the disease, which
is a prerequisite for appropriate avoidance or other treatment.”
Pharmacia Diagnostics, a division of Pharmacia Corporation,
is headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, and is a world leader
in in vitro diagnostic research and product development.
The U.S. headquarters for Pharmacia Diagnostics is in Kalamazoo,
Michigan.
Media Contacts:
Joe Jones, Pharmacia Diagnostics, Portage, MI, Tel: 269-492-1951,
Email: joseph.e.jones@phadia.com
Nora Plunkett, The Reilly Group, Chicago, IL, 312-642-0789,
Email:
noraplunkett@thereillygroup.com
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