Though much has been studied and written about food allergy, the majority of the available literature focuses on food allergies in the pediatric population. Unfortunately, it is likely that in regard to food allergies, adults are not just big children, and extrapolating findings from pediatric to adult patient populations might lead to erroneous assumptions. Thus, it is important to validate the correlation between pediatric and adult data, gather data regarding adult food allergy and understand the specific nuances of subsets of adults to better treat their food allergy. This review was conducted by identifying potentially relevant studies regarding food allergies in adults through electronic databases, including PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar. The search terms included “allergy”, “food” and “adults”. Parameters of 19+ years of age were added to search terms and all journals were written in or translated to English. From these search results, focus was placed on studies from 2010 to 2012. This systematic update on food allergy in adults found that the evidence regarding prevalence, diagnosis and management of food allergies is very limited, with the majority of data derived from children and young adults.

Dog exposure and development or exacerbation of allergic disease and asthma remains an important topic of research. The emotional connection between humans and pets can be quite influential in decisions about removing a pet from the home for health reasons. Patients also often ask about “hypoallergenic” dog breeds or treatments to make their dog less allergenic. Research has examined the link between early life exposure (prenatal, perinatal, childhood) to dogs and an apparent reduced risk of developing allergies later in life, but no consensus has emerged to assist patients or physicians. An important question is whether there are certain ages or conditions under which living with a dog may increase or decrease the risk of allergic sensitization. A better understanding of the variables influencing the outcome of in-home dog exposure will hopefully make significant advances toward alleviating the symptoms associated with allergic sensitization to dogs.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) most often causes severe respiratory disease in the very young and the elderly. Acute disease can also cause exacerbations of asthma in any age group. Recent findings provide insight into how the innate and adaptive immune systems respond to RSV infection and provide preliminary evidence that these effects vary significantly by RSV strain and host. Components of cell signaling pathways that induce inflammatory cytokine expression during the innate immune response and alter epithelial cell polarity through activating transcription factors, namely NF-κB, are now more clearly understood. New studies also reveal how RSV infection skews T helper (Th) cell differentiation away from the cell-mediated Th1 subset and towards the Th2 subset. There are also new data supporting preferential Th17 differentiation during RSV infection. In addition, effective immune system regulation of IL-10 expression and T regulatory cell (Treg) airway accumulation are essential for effective RSV clearance.

Most studies on the sensitization to horse allergens in populations without professional exposure have been carried out in geographical areas where the rate of horse ownership is high and horse riding is popular. Very few studies have been carried out in populations living in large urban areas. This gap in the literature probably reflects the widespread view that prevalence of horse-related allergy is low in urban populations because the latter are not regularly exposed to horses. On the contrary, we suggest that urban areas constitute a model useful to study potential modalities of exposure and sensitization to horse allergen by other routes of exposure than horse-riding. In this article, we describe the risks related to various modalities of exposure to horse allergen, clinical aspects of airway sensitization to horse allergens in patients living in urban areas, and non-occupational exposure to horse allergen. In addition, we illuminate some aspects related to dispersion of horse allergens from sources such as stables to indoor environments.