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ATLANTA -- Identifying, preventing and managing drug hypersensitivity will be a key theme of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting, according to conference organizers.
Important advances in diagnostic testing, standardization for challenge and desensitization protocols and new guideline-based treatments for drug allergy reactions will all be highlighted at the , taking place here March 3-6.
Specific advances include noninvasive identification of patients with active penicillin allergy, and the desensitization of patients with aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) and treatment-limiting sensitivities to certain cancer therapies.
"This topic has huge implications for our members," meeting program committee chair of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City, told Ƶ. "We now have improved protocol testing, and testing reagents, for patients with drug allergies, which can improve the quality of care for patients with drug allergies."
Seminars dealing with the theme include discussions of drug allergy challenges in the office setting; optimizing drug allergy protocols and systems for improved care; clinical challenges in the management of patients with AERD; and diagnosing drug allergy in children.
The issue of whether cephalosporins are safe for use in penicillin allergy without prior allergy evaluation will be debated in a pro/con session scheduled for Sunday.
On Saturday, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director , is scheduled to deliver a keynote address entitled "Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases: The Perpetual Challenge," which will include a discussion of the major epidemiological and clinical aspects of the Zika virus epidemic in the Western hemisphere.
The early introduction of peanut protein into the diets of infants at risk for peanut allergies is another topic that will be addressed at the meeting, including at a pro/con session entitled "We are LEAPing Our Way into an EATing Disaster." The debaters will be dietitian and food allergy blogger for the pro side, and , director of nutrition services at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, discussing the cons.
"We are about 2 years from the publication of the LEAP trial, which really changed everything. We now have new guidelines from NIAID and the American Academy of Pediatrics, but the devil is in the details," Fasano said, adding that there is still confusion about the practical aspects of how to best implement the new guidelines.
New research in peanut, wheat, milk, and other food allergy immunotherapies will also be presented at the meeting.