Because of my note yesterday in which I listed past posts from those
who tackled allergies to ferrets I have had people ask what SLIT
therapy is. (One even imagined it as an implant.) It's very simple,
far more so than shots, and not an implant. SLIT does not mean any
slit made in the mouth. It just means "Sub (under) Lingual (tongue)
ImmunoTherapy" and instead of shots the allergen is put as drops in
glycerin under the tongue each night and kept there for a few seconds
(I think the rule is at least 10 but I always go for a half minute so
can't recall the minimal time.) and then swallowed.
This is an approach that has been in wide use successfully in Europe
for an extended period. It is legal to do here but has not yet reached
the status where it qualifies for insurance coverage, but we find it no
more costly than the transportation back and forth for shots and the
portion of medical costs we have to cover ourselves. In the U.S. they
are waiting for a certain number of U.S. specific studies before full
approval. So far as I know there have been two studies on children in
the U.S. which found it safe for them and at least as effective as
shots.
The reason we are familiar with it is because I have an unpleasant
tendency to have anaphylactic reactions (including over a half dozen
times to my allergy shots in the years i took them) and had two
sequential, delayed reactions to my allergy shots, the second hinting
strongly that it wasn't far from being an anaphylactic one. So, we
can't do the shots safely for me any longer. I guess that now I've
used SLIT for at least a year and a half and it has further reduced my
allergies and that has meant further reductions in lung inflammatio
so I can exercise seriously again for the first time after a long haul
though at my age (late 50s) progress is slower. (I used to be seriously
into weight training but not competition; some here who were on Mike
Sullivan's list may recall me from those years and my quirky humor
about exercise.) It is hard to say enough for how much first the shots
and then the SLIT therapy have given me back my ability to live life
fully by helping me breathe far more easily.
There are 392 studies coming up in PubMed on a search of sublingual
allergy for those who want to learn more. Notice that many new studies
exist, though I am still sifting through to see if there are any U.S.
ones added the ones from last year.
It has also recently been studied to reduce constant rhinitis (nasal
congestion) so if that is of interest search in Pubmed for this Turkish
study:
Laryngoscope. 2007 Jun;117(6):965-9.
Long-term efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy in patients with
perennial rhinitis.
Tahamiler R, Saritzali G, Canakcioglu S.
A French economics study which found Specific Immune Therapy (shots or
sublingual) economical:
Allerg Immunol (Paris). 2007 May;39(5):148-56.
Pharmacoeconomic assessment of specific immunotherapy versus current
symptomatic treatment for allergic rhinitis and asthma in France. Omnes
LF, Bousquet J, Scheinmann P, Neukirch F, Jasso-Mosqueda G, Chicoye A,
Champion L, Fadel R.
An Italian study into the mechanism of action is
Allerg Immunol (Paris). 2007 Mar;39(3):101-3.
Sublingual immunotherapy: from safety to mechanism of action. Marcucci
F, Sensi L, Allocca G, Chiarello F, Palleri P, Ugolini E, Di Rienzo A,
Castellani S, Incorvaia C, Di Cara G, Puccinelli P, Frati F. with the
abstract translation at PubMed reading:
>Allergen specific immunotherapy is an important option for the
>treatment of respiratory allergy and its clinical efficacy has been
>clearly demonstrated by several studies. However, the injective route
>of administration and the possibility of severe side effects has
>limited its use in children and led to the introduction of new forms
>of administration. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has proven to be
>an effective and safe treatment for respiratory allergy. However, its
>mechanism of action is still debated. Pharmacokinetic studies showed
>that, differently from nasal mucosa, allergen extracts administered by
>SLIT are not immediately adsorbed but are long retained before being
>drained to local lymph nodes. This difference may be responsible of
>the absence of severe side effects and instead of short-lasting local
>symptoms. Studies by biopsies of the oral mucosa should greatly help in
>defining the presence and the role of cells involved in the mechanisms
>of oral tolerance.
and there are other new ones which also study the mechanism
Now HERE is something cool for anyone who has encountered anaphylactic
reactions in any species. It is a report from the Mt. Sinai School of
Med on advances and among them it mentions progress being made on a
fast dissolving sublingual (under tongue) epinephrin PILL to use when
an anaphylactic reaction occurs:
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007 Jun;119(6):1462-9. Epub 2007 Apr 6.
Advances in allergic skin disease, anaphylaxis, and hypersensitivity
reactions to foods, drugs, and insects.
Sicherer SH, Leung DY
You can very easily find those studies and more in
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 5675]
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