I had planned to write this month about the latest research in biologic therapy for allergic diseases—the theme of this year’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology during March 13th-March 16th in Philadelphia. That plan changed at 4:10pm on Sunday March 8th when I received an e-mail announcing that...
Unless someone has lived under the proverbial rock in the past month and does not obtain current event information, or is not even seeing the financial markets’ numbers from this past week, we are all aware in the USA of the novel coronavirus (named on February 11th as COVID-19) outbreak that began in China about 2 months ago. We are...
As health insurance costs continue to rise, more and more people are looking for cost- effective ways to cover themselves and/or their families. One such alternative that is gaining popularity is a high deductible health care policy (HDHP). These programs allow you to enjoy a lower premium cost, but carry a higher than average...
In a few hours, we enter a new year and a new decade (depending on whether one counts from zero to nine or from one to ten) with hope for the world and for ourselves. The new year is also the start of people being able to buy marijuana in Illinois for recreational use. According to yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, two business chains that...
One of the most frequently asked questions of allergists--besides “Why are there more people with allergies” (for which there is no single answer and is still considered to be due to multiple possibilities ranging from antibiotic overuse to diesel exhaust)--- is: What can pregnant and postpartum women do to prevent food allergies and...
The October 1st issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine included a research article that caught my attention because of the unusual topic: microplastic substances in human stool. With the news in recent years about microscopic particles of plastic being found inside plastic water bottles, I was curious about whether the patients who...