Treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis: Desensitisation for hay fever works

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7425.1229

BMJ 2003;327:1229 (22 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7425.1229

Letter

Treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis

Desensitisation for hay fever works

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Desensitisation for hay fever, using conventionalhigh dose extracts, does work¹ and does modify allergy, as reflectedby long term remission of disease for at least three years aftertreatment, and data indicating reduced progression of hay feverto asthma in children.^2
3 On the other hand, the negative resultsof the study by Radcliffe et al concerning enzyme-potentiateddesensitisation using low dose extracts are convincing and seriouslyquestion the use of this alternative treatment.⁴

It is unfortunate that your journal cover banner heading didnot distinguish the two forms of treatment, with the likelyresult that general practitioners will be discouraged from referringthe small but significant proportion of patients with severehay fever, unresponsive to nasal corticosteroids and antihistamines,to NHS allergy clinics for consideration of high dose desensitisation.

Equally upsetting was the depiction of a "stargazer," I presumea type of lily, as a cause of . . . [Full text of this article]

Stephen R Durham, professor of allergy and respiratory medicine

Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals NHS Trust, London SW3 6NP s.durham@imperial.ac.uk

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Enzyme potentiated desensitisation in treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis: double blind randomised controlled study: Michael J Radcliffe, George T Lewith, Richard G Turner, Philip Prescott, Martin K Church, and Stephen T Holgate
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