Allergy centres to be set up

The Health Ministry plans to set up allergy centres in general hospitals to treat the growing number of people who suffer from allergies.
Health Ministry Communicable Disease Control Division director Dr Ramlee Rahmat said today these centres would make it easier for people to confirm if they suffered from allergies.
The setting up of the centres was part of the effort to improve the quality of service to Malaysians, he told the New Straits Times after the launch of Malaysian Allergy Day 2005 at a hotel here today.
At present, only the University Malaya Medical Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Institute of Medical Research have allergy centres.
Dr Ramlee said there was a proposal to begin immunotherapy, the latest trend in the management of allergies. It involves regular injections against allergies.
Commenting on an NST report today that at least one in three Malaysians might be suffering from allergies, he said: "Allergies can be prevented and controlled with proper management."
Earlier, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, whose speech was read by Dr Ramlee, said allergies were a growing worldwide problem. A third of all children suffered from one allergy or the other.
Latiff said a study was conducted between June last year and January this year involving 366 patients at four centres: UMMC, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kelantan, Ipoh Hospital, and the Kuching General Hospital.
It showed that 92.3 per cent of patients with nasal symptoms had allergic rhinitis (often called "hay fever", an overreaction of the immune system to particles in the air).
"Persistent allergic rhinitis (PER) is common in Malaysia and is prevalent in all ethnic groups, ages, gender, socio-economic strata and location," he said.
Other interesting finds from this study, Latiff said, were that PER seemed to have a higher incidence in Kuala Lumpur and Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, and that Malaysians had high sensitivity to house dust mites.
The study also revealed that susceptibility to PER appeared to be a genetic trait and patients with allergic rhinitis had a higher incidence of bronchial asthma.
UPM’s clinical lecturer/consultant allergy specialist, Associate Professor Dr Ranbir Kaulsay, later gave a talk on allergic emergencies to some 200 public and private hospital doctors and medical practitioners.
He said some people were allergic to antibiotics and other drugs, muscle relaxants, insects, latex, foreign proteins and certain medical procedures.
He warned about anaphylaxis, an acute, potentially life-threatening hypersensitivity reaction which can occur within minutes or up to a few hours after exposure to a provoking agent.
"Most cases are mild but any anaphylaxis has the potential to become life-threatening," said Dr Ranbir, who is Global Resources in Allergy chairman for Malaysia.
The foods most frequently implicated in anaphylaxis were peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts etc), fish, shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, oyster and scallops), milk (cow, goat), chicken eggs, seeds (cotton seeds, sesame, mustard), fruits and vegetables.
He said a severe allergy to pollen could indicate that an individual might be susceptible to anaphylaxis.
He said there was a need for increased awareness of allergies, especially in hospital emergency units.
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