People who get immunotherapy injections for their allergies are less likely to develop infectious diseases such as chronic pharyngitis, nasopharyngitis, sinusitis, diseases of the tonsils and adenoids, and the flu, a new study shows.

"Allergic rhinitis is a precursor to the allergic march toward asthma and other respiratory disease," said lead investigator Cheryl Hankin, PhD, president and chief scientific officer of BioMedEcon in Moss Beach, California.

However, "after allergy immunotherapy, significantly fewer patients sought out treatment for chronic infections of the upper respiratory tract," she reported.

Dr. Hankin presented the results during a news conference here at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2014.

To measure the impact of immunotherapy on other respiratory diseases, Dr. Hankin and her team examined data on retirees living in Florida who were enrolled in Medicaid. They matched 4967 patients who received immunotherapy to 4967 who did not. Demographic characteristics and health conditions, including allergies, were similar in the immunotherapy and control groups.