World Allergy Week 2017 Is Raising Awareness of Chronic Urticaria
Milwaukee, WI. (PRWEB) April 02, 2017 -- According to the World Allergy Organization (WAO) there is hope for those who suffer from chronic urticaria to improve quality of life. From April 2-8 WAO and allergy/clinical immunology societies around the world that are members of the organization are offering educational events and distributing information about the disease as part of World Allergy Week.
WAO is focusing on chronic urticaria during World Allergy Week 2017 because of the impact of the disease on quality of life. The theme is: “The Agony of Hives – What to do when welts and swelling don’t go away.”
Chronic urticaria is defined as episodic or daily hives lasting for at least six weeks and impairing quality of life. To date there is no cure for the disease which occurs in up to 1.8% of the population, and suffering can last several years.
“The itching interferes with concentration, performance, wellbeing, and the ability to stay asleep and fall asleep,” according to Paul Greenberger, MD, of Northwestern University in Chicago. “The swelling can be disfiguring if it’s on the face, most commonly the eyelids and lips. People give up hope when the symptoms don’t go away, but allergists have the necessary education and experience to determine the correct diagnosis and prescribe effective medications to control the symptoms.”
Activities to raise awareness about chronic urticaria are taking place in many countries this week,” said Mario Sánchez Borges, MD, of Centro Médico Docente – La Trinidad, in Caracas, Venezuela, and WAO President. “These include workshops for physicians, patient education events and other activities that are helping to share what we know about chronic urticaria in adults and children and how to get relief from symptoms that can often seem unbearable.”
WAO is hosting a complementary live webinar, “The Agony of Hives,” on Tuesday, April 4 at 13:30:00 Greenwich Mean Time, for physicians as well as the general public. The faculty are Marcus Maurer, MD, of Charité – Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, Germany; Elham Hossny, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt; Mario Sánchez Borges, MD, of Centro Médico Docente – La Trinidad in Caracas, Venezuela; and Paul Greenberger, MD, of Northwestern University in Chicago, United States.
Details about the WAO webinar program and registration can be found at: http://www.worldallergyweek.org. Click here for the World Clock time zone converter.
For more information about World Allergy Week 2017 and chronic urticaria, visit: http://www.worldallergyweek.org.
To find a member society of the World Allergy Organization in your country or region, visit: http://www.worldallergy.org/about-wao/member-societies.
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References
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http://waojournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1939-4551-7-31
Kocatürk E, Maurer M, Metz M, Grattan C. Looking forward to new targeted treatments for chronic spontaneous urticaria. Clin Transl Allergy 2017, 7:1.
https://ctajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13601-016-0139-2
Maurer M, Church MK, Goncalo M, Sussman G, Sanchez Borges M. Management and treatment of chronic urticaria. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2015; 29(Suppl3): 16-32.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jdv.13198/full
Maurer M, Rosén K, Hsieh HJ, Saini S, Grattan C et al. Omalizumab for the treatment of chronic idiopathic or spontaneous urticaria. N Engl J Med. 2013 Mar 7;368(10):924-35
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1215372
Sanchez Borges M, Asero R, Ansotegui IJ, Baiardini I, Bernstein JA et al. Diagnosis and treatment of urticaria and angioedema, a worldwide perspective. World Allergy Organ J. 2012; 5:125
http://waojournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1097/WOX.0b013e3182758d6c
Zuberbier T, Aberer W, Asero R, Bindslev-Jensen C, Brzoza Z et al. The EAACI/GA²LEN/EDF/WAO Guideline for the definition, classification, diagnosis and management of Urticaria. The 2013 revision and update. Allergy 2014:69; 868-887
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/all.12313/full
About the World Allergy Organization
The World Allergy Organization (WAO) is an international alliance of 97 regional and national allergy, asthma and immunology societies. Through collaboration with its Member Societies WAO provides a wide range of educational and outreach programs, symposia and lectureships to allergists/immunologists around the world and conducts initiatives related to clinical practice, service provision, and physical training in order to better understand and address the challenges facing allergists/immunologists worldwide. (http://www.worldallergy.org)
World Allergy Organization
555 E. Wells Street, Suite 1100
Milwaukee, WI 53202-3823 USA
Tel: +1 (414) 276-1791 Fax: +1 (414) 276-3349
Email: info(at)worldallergy(dot)org Website: http://www.worldallergy.org
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Sofia Dorsano, World Allergy Organization, http://www.worldallergy.org, +1 414-276-1791, [email protected]
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