The Hilltop Allergy LetterVolume 20 Number 3 June – August 2021 Introduction
We welcome all new and established patients to our newsletter. This is formulated four times a year to inform patients and the medical community with regard to new developments in asthma, allergies, and clinical immunology. Please feel free to take this home with you and share it with family and friends.
Summertime allergens
The major summertime allergens include mold spores, grass, and weed pollens. With the exception of pine pollen which can pollinate through June, the main sources of airborne allergies include rye grass, Kentucky blue grass, and ragweed, among others. Mold spores are the most common and numerous airborne allergens floating in the air in the spring, summer and fall. They have been noted to be particularly associated with asthma flare-ups in some allergic individuals. . ADVANCED THERAPY FOR ASTHMA AND OTHER IMMUNOLOGIC DISORDERS. A variety of new therapies have been developed over the past few years to treat severe asthma, severe atopic dermatitis, and severe hives. These medications are classified as biologics. Biologics are proteins that are manufactured to block specific inflammatory proteins made by the immune system. Unlike regular medications (pharmaceuticals), biologics are monoclonal antibodies, i.e., specific proteins that mimic anti-inflammatory proteins that the body produces. Biologics block a variety of inflammatory proteins in the human body. This results in a significant decrease in inflammation. Inflammation is the major driving force in causing the negative effects of asthma, atopic dermatitis (eczema) and hives. Inflammation can be described as excess heat. When an engine does not have enough oil, but is still able to run, the excess heat produced could be described similar to the inflammation that the body produces when the immune system is inappropriately stimulated. Biologics have been used to treat cancer for many years. However, in the past few years, biologics have become widespread in the treatment of a variety of disorders such as severe migraines. Concerns about the development of cancers has always been thought about in the development of biologics. Fortunately, some of the biologics used for allergic diseases have been around for a long time and we are not seeing a rise in cancers or other diseases with the use of these therapies. The major biologics are as follows:
Around the Mitchell House One of the grandchildren of Charles and Mary Gleason Mitchell visited with her husband this spring. She was last in this house when she was five years old. Fortunately, she was able to remember much of this house and reminisced about her visits to Cadillac from Oregon where the son of Charles Mitchell, William Mitchell, raised his family. We were happy to host them and give them a tour of Cadillac.
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