First hay fever map of Britain could help staycationers pick an asthma-free holiday

A hay fever map of Britain which for the first time shows the location of 12 trees and plants which trigger allergies, could help staycationers avoid the misery of a holiday with asthma and streaming eyes.
The detailed graphics show that people allergic to birch, alder or oak should steer clear of Brighton or Blackpool, while those with grass allergies should stick to the east of England, and stay away from Wales and the west of the country.
Likewise, if hazel or ash brings on a fit of sneezing or wheezing, the south east should be ruled out of holiday plans.....

Read more here: telegraph.co.uk

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Could Cancer Drug Gleevec Help With Severe Asthma?

FRIDAY, May 19, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A leukemia drug might also effectively treat severe asthma, a small-scale clinical trial suggests.
Gleevec (imatinib) reduced the "twitchiness" of airways, making them less likely to reflexively constrict when exposed to an allergen or asthma trigger, said senior researcher Dr. Elliot Israel.
"We showed we could decrease the amount of airway twitchiness by a third," Israel said. "That's a substantial change, and that was significant compared with the placebo group."
Israel is director of the respiratory therapy department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.....

Read more here: philly.com

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Cleaning up the air we breathe to control asthma

(CNS): My first personal brush with the severity of asthma, was several years ago, when one of my students suddenly started gasping for breath in the middle of her Physics Practical final examination of Class 12. We were clueless about the cause of her sudden affliction.
Other than making her sit in the open air and force her to drink water, we did not know what to do. A frantic phone call to her parents, elicited that it was an attack of asthma as she had forgotten her inhaler at home.
Thankfully she normalized after a while. But the memory of those agonizing 15 minutes still remains etched in my mind.....

Read more here: maravipost.com