Allergy Shots: Long Term BenefitsDateline: 08/16/99
Allergy shots, once considered by hay fever sufferers to be a
last resort, may become a more popular treatment after new research
found they may continue to be effective even after the treatment is
discontinued.
Patients who received
shots monthly for three or four years reported weaker symptoms of
the grass-pollen allergy three years after stopping the treatment,
according to researchers at the Imperial College School of Medicine
in London.
"They may never relapse into symptoms as severe as what they had
originally," Samantha Walker, one of the study's authors told The Associated
Press. "In carefully selected patients, this form of treatment
is extremely effective."
Allergy
shots, also known as immunotherapy,
work by changing the way your immune system recognizes an allergen,
and is a preventive
treatment for allergic reactions to substances such as grass
pollens, house dust mites and wasp and bee venom. Immunotherapy
involves giving gradually increasing doses
of the substance, or allergen, to which the person is allergic.
Fewer SymptomsDuring the British study, researchers asked
patients to keep detailed diaries of their hay fever symptoms for
three years. The study found little difference between the severity
of symptoms reported by patients who had continued allergy-shot
treatment during the three-year trial and those who got dummy shots.
Those who had never had immunotherapy reported much more severe
symptoms than the others.
The researchers also found that the immune systems of the
patients who discontinued treatment produced less of the
allergen-fighting substances that cause runny noses and other hay
fever symptoms than the untreated group. Those who maintained
allergy-shot treatment had even fewer of those symptoms.
"It's the clearest demonstration of a long-term effect of
immunotherapy that I'm aware of," Dr. Marshall Plaut, chief of the
Allergic Mechanisms Section at the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases told
reporters.
Prevention for ChildrenThe researchers said their findings
and other studies suggest that starting immunotherapy sooner after
an allergy appears, particularly in children, could prevent the
allergy from becoming severe and prevent development of additional
allergies.
"This may lower the bar for me to start people a little earlier
on immunotherapy," said Dr. Leonard Bielory, director of the Asthma
and Allergy Research Center at the University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey.
"This study presents hard evidence that immunotherapy's benefits
are both powerful and long-term, maybe even permanent," said Jim
Sublett, M.D., National Medical Director for Vivra
Asthma & Allergy, Inc. and a leader in the profession. "It's
gratifying to see such a convincing and objective endorsement for
allergy shots, which we believe continue to play an extremely
effective role in our overall treatment programs."
"These findings are truly impressive and exciting," said Phil
Lieberman, M.D., a recognized authority in chronic respiratory care
who heads Vivra's Allergy and Asthma Center of the Mid-South in
Memphis, TN. in a news release, "The results strongly indicate that
beginning immunotherapy sooner after an allergy arises, especially
in children, could prevent it from ever becoming severe and may also
prevent any additional allergies from developing."
Not a Quick Fix"Allergy vaccines are clearly changing the
natural course of the disease for people in a dramatic way, as the
study also found that the treatments had pushed their immune systems
toward normal," added Dr. Michael Blaiss, a new partner of Dr.
Lieberman's practice in Vivra and an acknowledged expert in clinical
research for allergy, asthma and immunology. "Shots may be a vital
or even essential treatment component for a great number of allergy
sufferers, going a long way toward a cure."
Although usually effective, immunotherapy is not
a quick fix. It requires a steady schedule of shots with
gradually increasing doses, and it usually takes 1 to 2 years to
determine whether you're benefiting from the treatment.
Up to 20 percent of people in the United States and northern
Europe have hay fever. Allergy shots were the primary treatment
until the 1940s, when antihistamine medications were introduced, but
the shots are still widely used.
Allergy shots are beneficial generally, but there are risks
associated with the treatments. Patients can develop a local or
systemic reaction to the shot that requires treatment. This is the
reason many doctors recommend waiting in the office for at least 30
minutes after the shot is given.
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