This issue of Allergologia et Immunpathologia will welcome many who have recently incorporated to their usual tasks after a period of vacation. I hope it is an interesting starting point for those who follow the official journal of the Spanish Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Society (SEICAP). But A&I is also the official journal of the Latin American Society for Immunodeficiencies (LASID). As a reminder, our colleagues from that part of the world author an interesting article on the achievements and future directions of LASID. Some of those achievements include: the LASID Registry (with 4900 patients registered as of January 2014), fellowships in basic and clinical research, primary immunodeficiencies (PID) summer schools, biannual meetings, and scientific reports, amongst others. This article summarises the current state and future perspectives of this society and its role in the improved management of PIDs in Latin America.
However, asthma and related diseases are again the conditions where the focus is put in this issue of A&I. Asthma prevalence seems to follow a downhill path as previously reported by Asher et al.1 in their seminal paper on the ISAAC Phase Three results. Our colleagues from Brazil report that asthma prevalence in adolescents was reduced between 2003 and 2011–2012 in the region of Aracaju. Also in the epidemiological field, but focusing on sensitization, an article from Brescia, in Italy, reports that immigrants show multiple sensitizations more frequently than local people, a topic also recently addressed by the ISAAC Phase Three Study Group2 with similar findings.
Returning to respiratory conditions, a very interesting real-life clinical trial performed in Rome, compares three different cough treatments arrives to the conclusion that a milk and honey mixture is as effective as dextromethorphan or levodropropizine when evaluating a cough score filled in by parents. Unfortunately, no placebo group was included which could have offered a very good perspective of the efficacy of medication for non-specific acute cough in children.
Three additional articles deal with respiratory conditions in three totally different fields. In the first of them, our colleagues from Madrid show that moderate and late preterm have a significant higher risk of being admitted to the hospital due to a respiratory infection during the first year of life. In the second one, a group from Ankara reports their findings on comorbidity in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) as compared to asthma. Several conditions, such as hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux, psychological disorders and hypelipidaemia seem to be more frequent in asthmatics, while other, such as cardiac disease were more common in AERD. The third article, from Sao Paulo deals with the characteristics of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in severe asthmatic children: when stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide PBMC they produce a different spectrum of cytokines as compared with healthy controls.
In the broader field of allergy treatment (including asthma, rhinitis and eczema), a group from Medellín, in Colombia, show that a session delivered to patients on the route of administration of immunotherapy and their resulting decision about which one to use, improves significantly adherence to this treatment.
Still in the allergy field, a report from Rome describes what it is probably the first series of cases of isolated contact urticaria due to kiwi. The authors siggest that a still non described allergen contained in the fruit might be responsible.
This issue of A&I also includes a pair of articles on immunological diseases. In the first of them, a series of 11 patients of the rare disease known as Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diaseases (MSMD) are described. According to the authors, from Tehran, early detection and commencement of combination therapy can prevent severe and even fatal complications. Additionally, a group from Samsum, in Turkey, describes lymphocyte subpopulation anomalies in patients suffering from ataxia telangiectasia.
A last original article, which is difficult to classify, is included in the table of content of this issue of A&I. Our colleagues from Santiago, in Chile, describe a temporal association between meningococcal disease and viral (any type) respiratory infections. Viruses precede bacteria: whether this is due to respiratory viruses altering immunity remains to be elucidated.
The review of this issue, written by a group from Martin, in Salovakia, is devoted to histamine intolerance, i.e. the expression of histamine mediated symptoms when exposed to normal levels of histamine from foods. Some clues for the diagnosis and treatment of this condition are included in this interesting article.
A new position paper from a SEICAP working group is included in the final pages of this issue of the journal. In a very extensive and exhaustive review, the authors illustrate the current recommendations for managing cow's milk allergy.
For those returning from the summer holidays: welcome to the real world, which includes a new issue of A&I. For those in the southern hemisphere starting spring time, do not despair: January is only three months ahead.
