When we end the first half of 2015 for published issues of Allergologia et Immunopathologia it is interesting to discover that the present one is somewhat atypical. I base this statements in three reasons: firstly, there is no paper devoted to asthma; secondly, three originals focus on chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU); and thirdly, the issue is dominated by the huge extension of a review paper.
So let's analyse the issue better. The “anomalous” paper is actually a position paper from the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology and Paediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Sociedad Española de Inmunología Clínica y Alergia Pediátrica, SEICAP) on the approach to children with allergic reactions after vaccination or allergy to vaccine components. It is endorsed not only by SEICAP, but also by the Vaccination Committee of the Spanish Paediatric Society (CAV-AEP). This type of consensus papers are very welcomed to A&I as a way to disseminate them among the members of SEICAP and AEP. We also hope that they can help other paediatricians in other countries to make better decisions in – sometimes – complicated situations.
It is also unusual to have three papers dedicated to CSU, as the condition is not so common. But because of that there is still much room for improvement of our understanding of the condition and also for a better treatment. The first study could not find any association between Fc¿R1β gene polymorphisms and CSU in a population from Kashmir. The second one did find an epidemiological association between CSU and Hasimoto's disease in a Japanese population. To end, the third one also found an epidemiological association, this time with H. pylori infection. Those three papers might add some new light on the pathophysiology of CSU.
Nevertheless, the first article in the table of contents is focused on atopic dermatitis (AD). As the editor of A&I I chose this one with my mind in the times I had to deal with very severe cases of AD in my own office, and found it very difficult to achieve control of the condition in some of those children, with a really miserable life. Although an epidemiologic paper, I find encouraging that AD could be predicted (by means of patch test to mites). If there was a way to prevent to certain extent AD in those children at higher risk (using moisturizing preparations regularly, for instance) they will be very grateful for their change of life.
This issue of A&I also includes three original papers on immunodeficiencies. The first one underlines the lack of awareness of primary immunodeficiencies in Brazil in spite of the training programs on this condition to which paediatricians in Brazil are exposed. The second one is a description a 29 children suffering from chronic granulomatous disease. And the third one describes the serum immunological status of children with recurrent respiratory infections.
In line with respiratory infections, bronchiolitis is also a topic of the present issue of A&I. The study included here shows that RSV triggers an inflammatory response fundamentally at the respiratory level, with scant systemic repercussion. On a totally separate note, another paper describes the pattern of prescription of self-injected epinephrine, and found that the percentage of these prescriptions by general paediatricians seems higher than expected.
Last but not least, 44 cases of disseminated BCG infection are described by a group from Iran. This is definitely an area in which we can learn from our colleagues who have to fight unusual adverse effects to BCG vaccination, which are less common in Europe.
I hope this third issue of A&I in 2015 is of interest to our readers.
