Medical

Symptom score is the sum of a numerical value assigned to each symptom the patient reports and this value represents the severity of the symptom(s)

Allergic patients have the potential to develop asthma. A published paper (see reference below) demonstrated that immunotherapy (allergy vaccines) can prevent development of asthma in patients suffering from allergies and that immunotherapy is the only treatment for allergic diseases t be able to prevent asthma development or prevent its worsening over time.

Lars Jacobsen, Erkka Valovirta. How Strong is the Evidence That Immunotherapy in Children Prevents the Progression of Allergy and Asthma? Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007;7(6):556-560
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17989534/

Lars Jacobsen, Erkka Valovirta. How Strong is the Evidence That Immunotherapy in Children Prevents the Progression of Allergy and Asthma? Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007;7(6):556-560

Albuterol a bronchodilator medication usually prescribed to alleviate the obstruction of the lower airways. Because it is used when the patient has symptoms, it is known as a “rescue medication”. It can be administered by a nebulizer (usually in young children) or by inhalers. The inhalers come with the name of Albuterol, Pro Air®, Ventolin® and others. There are also inhalers that are anti-inflammatory that are used as maintenance medications.

Lower airways include the breathing tubes called bronchi and other smaller tubes. These breathing tubes are surrounded by muscle that may constrict, producing obstruction and therefore difficulty breathing.

Leatherman BD, Khalid A, Lee S et al. Dosing of sublingual immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis: evidence-based review with recommendations. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2015 Sep;5(9):773-83. doi: 10.1002/alr.21561

Anaphylactic reaction is the type of reaction that occurs to some people that are very reactive to certain allergens, for example, bee stings or peanuts.

Sometimes, the allergens injected in the vaccine, can trigger a similar type of reaction.

In this reaction, the throat can “close” or the bronchi (breathing lung tubes) can constrict leading to difficulty breathing. Other problems of this reaction include development of diffuse itching or even hives, swelling of the eye-lids, lips or even tongue (further compounding the difficulty breathing).

It often requires administration of Adrenaline (medication contained in the Epi-Pen®), and other medications.