In a study published earlier this month investigators found that people who have had shingles are at a 30% higher risk of having a stroke. And that risk is about 4-fold higher if the shingles outbreak involves the eye, a condition called herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

It’s hypothesized that the way the varicella zoster virus (VZV) can cause a stroke is by spreading along nerve fibers in the brain to the blood vessels where it causes inflammation and increases the risk of blood clotting.

This study raises many questions about how to prevent stroke in people who’ve had shingles. It’s not known if aggressively treating other risk factors for stroke like high blood pressure and high cholesterol helps reduce this risk.

Icagen, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs that can be taken orally, has announced that it will stop development of its novel, oral asthma medication senicapoc after a clinical trial failed to deliver anticipated benefits.

Senicapoc initally demonstrated promise in animal studies where it was effective in treating the late phase of asthma. Seth V. Hetherington, M.D., SVP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs of Icagen discussed the results of the senicapoc clinical trials stating in a press release stating that “we completed two small, cost-effective, proof-of-concept clinical studies testing the potential of senicapoc in the treatment of asthma. While we were encouraged by the results in our first study of allergic asthma, we were disappointed by the lack of effects in this second study of exercise-induced asthma.”

An oral asthma medication in addition to currently available leukotriene modifers like Singulair, theophyillne, and oral steroids would be welcome by both patients and parents due to ease of administration compared to inhalers. What do you think?

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More than 1 in 3 patients referred to a specialty asthma clinic for poorly controlled asthma did not fill inhaled steroid prescriptions appropriately more than 50% of the time according to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Interestingly, none of the patients were suspected by the doctors as non-compliant prior to their referral and none of the patients admitted non-compliance as the reason for their poorly controlled asthma. Non-compliance was discovered in reviewing pharmacy records in a single payer system of health care.

Medication compliance is not a one size fits all problem. Some patients have concerns about side effects and other patients have difficulties in obtaining medications. What is painfully clear from this study is that many asthmatics, even ones with really poorly controlled asthma, are not doing a good job of taking medications that are known to be beneficial.

What do you think? Why do poorly controlled asthmatics have a hard time being compliant? What do you think we can do better? Leave a comment and let the asthma community know what you think.

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According to the the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), food allergy patients are not the only ones who need to be mindful at Halloween. While it makes sense parents of food allergy patients need to be mindful of treats this weekend, holidays like Halloween may worsen your child’s asthma. The AAAAI offers these suggestions in a press release to help keep your child’s asthma under control:

• Watch out for costumes- If you have stored costumes in an attic or closet be mindful of dust and molds. Make sure to throughly clean before using.
• Don’t let your kids enter homes while trick or treating- Unknown pets or smoke may trigger asthma.
• Weather- If weather is one of your child’s triggers, make sure to carefully check out the forecast and dress appropriately.
• If your child is sick- While it may not be a popular decision, not trick or treating may be the best thing if your child is sick this Halloween.
• Be prepared- Make sure you trick or treat with an asthma inhaler in case your child’s asthma does worsen this Halloween.

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The swine flu is front page news on a daily basis. And now that the swine flu vaccine is available, there seems to be a huge demand for the vaccine, but also concerns from some people that the vaccine may not be completely safe. Do you intend to receive, or have your children receive, the swine flu vaccine? Would you want to receive the nasal form, shot form, either one or neither one? Share your opinion, and read about others’ thoughts.

Increasingly asthmatics are trying alternative asthma treatments. Have you ever tried one of these treatments?

Why not go to our forum and give us your experience with alternative asthma treatments.

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In a recent study published in the Archives of Dermatology investigators have shown that aggressive microdermabrasion does lead to significant changes in the dermis similar to what is seen in healing wounds.

Microdermabrasion is a popular procedure for skin rejuvenation. The procedure involves buffing the skin with tiny hard beads of aluminum oxide or diamonds which gets rid of dead skin cells on the surface of the skin giving the skin a smoother, more youthful appearance.

Some have suggested that microdermabrasion can also reduce fine lines and wrinkles, acne scars, dark spots, and other signs of aging skin. In order to do this, microdermabrasion would have to cause collagen (the scaffolding of the skin) to be produced, but previous studies with aluminum oxide beads don’t always show changes in collagen.

In this study the investigators used diamond-studded handpieces with medium grit and coarse grit on the forearm skin of people with sun damage. The medium grit handpieces did not induce a wound healing response, but the coarse grit handpiece did. In addition the investigators found precursors to collagen production in the skin of the coarse microdermabrasion subjects.

All this talk of buffing the skin with coarse grit diamond pieces may conjure up pictures in your mind of faces with the top layer of skin removed like with a road rash. But the subjects only experienced minimal redness that lasted less than 2 hours.

According to a press release from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, data released from the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 26% of 1400 adults hospitalized for the H1N1 swine flu were asthma patients. As a result, a soon to be published article in the The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology will recommend that all patients with asthma who either have the flu or are suspected of having the flu should be considered for antiviral treatments like TamiFlu.

With the increased risk of pneumonia and other complications among asthmatic patients contracting the flu, it is important to learn as much as you can to prevent flu.

Learn More

• 3 Steps to Prevent Flu
• Why Do I Need a Flu Vaccine?
• Flu Vaccine Myths

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The swine flu is here, and more and more people are becoming infected. It appears that people, especially children, with asthma are at higher risk for complications from the flu. The new swine flu vaccine, in both injected and nasal forms, are becoming available nationwide. Learn how swine flu can be prevented and treated, and what to do about the flu if you have asthma.

Learn more:

• Swine Flu Prevention
• Swine Flu Treatment
• Swine Flu Vaccine and Egg Allergy

A number of different doctors can treat asthma. What kind of doctor do you see?

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