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Özdemir Ö. An asthmatic child with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). Turk J Pediatr 2018; 60: 446-452. Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) results from a TH2 hypersensitivity lung disease in response to bronchial colonization of Aspergillus fumigatus in the respiratory tract. ABPA is a very rare disease in the pediatric population; the prevalence is anticipated to be about 1-2% in adult asthma patients and 2-15% in cystic fibrosis patients. In pediatric asthma patients, only rare case reports on ABPA have been published. We present a case of a 12-year-old boy admitted to our hospital with worsening (mild persistent) asthma symptoms such as a recurrent cough, episodic wheezing, and dyspnea for the last two years. He was diagnosed with pneumonia several times and suspected of having tuberculosis during this time. Chest X-ray showed bilaterally perihilar opacities and computed tomography findings revealed central bronchiectasis. With the clinical and laboratory findings, the patient fulfilled 7/8 major diagnostic criteria for ABPA. Treatment with oral corticosteroids and itraconazole was effective. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of pediatric ABPA with previously documented asthma from Turkey.

Introduction: There are only a few studies regarding the prevalence of atopy in Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients, and their results are conflicting., Methods: In this study children with the diagnosis of FMF were evaluated for the presence of atopy by comparing with controls. One hundred and eighteen children diagnosed as FMF and 50 healthy age and sex matched controls were enrolled. They were evaluated for the presence of rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, urticaria and asthma. Laboratory assessment was done by measuring IgA, IgM, IgG, IgE levels, total eosinophil count and by performing skin prick test (SPT) panels for common allergens to children with FMF and healthy controls., Results: One hundred and eighteen children (61girls and 57 boys) diagnosed as FMF with a median age of 120±47 months (range 36-204 months) were compared with 50 healthy controls (31 girls and 19 boys) having a median age of 126±37 (range 48-192 months). The mean percentage of total eosinophil count of patients was similar to that of the control group. The mean level of IgE was significantly higher in children with FMF than controls (136±268, 87±201, respectively; p values <0.05). The percentage of skin prick test positivity was similar for both patients and controls (13% and 8.2%, respectively; p>0.05). The prevalences of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma in the patient group were 5.08%, 28.8%, and 15.25%, respectively, while the control group had the prevalences of 0%, 36%, and 14% respectively., Conclusion: Children with FMF did not show an increase of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma with respect to controls., (Copyright © 2017 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

It is well-known that asthma patients show compromised production of antiviral interferons and lower expression of ACE-2, most likely owing to ACE-2 expression is inversely correlated with type 2 (Th2: T helper 2) cytokine levels of asthmatics. However, COVID-19 patients with poor outcomes show early vigorous type I interferon expression. This does not match with the pathophysiology of worse COVID-19 disease development in asthma patients. Actually, why asthma might protect against poor outcomes in COVID-19 is explained in detail in recent reviews. Some new data even show decreased mortality in asthma patients. There were no flawless data that asthma patients are at a greater risk of becoming severely ill with SARS-CoV-2 infection, although current reports from the United States and the United Kingdom indicate that asthma is much more common in children and adults with COVID-19 than was formerly described from Asia as well as from central Europe.

Introduction:Asthma is a major cause of absenteeism in schoolage children. Studies have shown that teachers’ knowledge of asthma reduces school attendance rates. Collaboration between patients, physicians, family and teachers is an important factor in the success of treatment and decrease in the frequency of attacks in asthma patients. In order for teachers to take a more active role in this cooperation, their knowledge levels should be increased by providing trainings on childhood asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge levels of elementary (primary and secondary) and high school teachers working in İstanbul regarding childhood asthma.Methods:This questionnaire was conducted between June and December 2012 with the participation of 825 teachers working in 22 randomly selected schools. The questionnaire was given to the teachers participating in the study, which questioned the general information, symptoms, triggering factors of asthma crisis, emergency intervention and treatment information about childhood asthma.Results:In our study, the level of general knowledge about childhood asthma was found to be the highest and the level of knowledge about asthma triggering factors was the lowest. Regarding gender, the mean scores of the female teachers about asthma were significantly higher than male teachers. The total asthma awareness scores of the teachers working in public schools were found to be significantly lower than the teachers working in private schools (p=0.001). Having asthma experience was found to cause a significant increase in childhood asthma knowledge scores of teachers (p=0.001). When the comparison was made according to the expertise in teaching, experienced teachers had more knowledge about asthma triggering factors, whereas the teachers with less professional experience were more knowledgeable about the emergency intervention in asthma attack (p=0.016).Conclusion:Our study will contribute to the national asthma control program. We believe that informing teachers about asthma is important in asthma control and will contribute to the guidelines for training programs.

The prevalence of allergic diseases including atopic dermatitis has increased over the last few decades. Atopic dermatitis is a widespread allergic disease and the first step of allergic march, for which there is presently no known treatment. Under the recent literature data, use of probiotics in early life beginning from pregnancy is thought to be an effective method and appears to be a hopeful tactic for prevention, but very little is known about its long-term preventive effect. Here, our aim is to give an outline of the results from these prevention/treatment studies and to discuss current approaches. Probiotics are universally described as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host” by the World Health Organization. In most studies, single strains or a mixture of strains of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria was used prenatally, postnatally, or perinatally. Several meta-analyses have shown a moderate benefit of probiotics for eczema prevention, and the most reliable effect has been observed with a combined perinatal (prenatally + postnatally) administration in infants at high risk of allergic disease by heredity. In addition, use of multi-strain (mixture of different bacterial species or of Lactobacillus species) probiotics appeared to be most effective for eczema prevention. Probiotics also could be an option in eczema therapy, especially for moderate to severe eczema in children and adults. No preventive and therapeutic effect has been shown for other allergic disorders. To date, expert bodies do not generally propose probiotics for allergy prevention, although the World Allergy Organization suggests considering using probiotics in pregnant women, during breastfeeding, and/or to the infant if at high risk of developing allergic disease.

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