World Allergy Week with a focus on Covid-19
According to the World Allergy Week campaign, millions of South Africans live with long-term conditions.
POLOKWANE – Allergies can be explained as your immune system responding to a foreign substance (allergen) that is typically not harmful to your body and can include certain foods, pollen, or pet dander.
According to the World Allergy Week campaign, millions of South Africans live with long-term conditions, including coeliac disease and allergic disorders such as eczema (atopic dermatitis), hay fever (allergic rhinitis) and asthma (one of the most common chronic diseases affecting children).
World Allergy Week is commemorated in June and July and will, this year, focus on Covid-19 and allergies. Professor Michael Levin, Head of Allergy at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and CEO of the Allergy Foundation South Africa (AFSA), says there is potentially harmful misinformation circulating around the Coronavirus and allergies.
“Patients are unsure about symptoms and whether their allergies increase the risk of serious Covid-19 complications. We want to reassure people and enable them to manage their allergies as well as possible during this time,” Prof Michael said.
He stressed the importance of people with allergies and asthma taking care of themselves, saying not managing one’s condition does not only impact your health negatively, it can also be fatal. “It is conservatively estimated that 80% of asthma deaths could be prevented with better treatment and access to medication,” he said.
Dr Candice Royal of the KidsAllergy Paediatric and Allergy Centre in Cape Town agrees, saying the most important message for allergy sufferers is to continue good care. “Allergic disorders can be well-managed with education, correct medication and ongoing support from your healthcare professional. Whilst people with uncontrolled asthma may be in a high-risk group for severe illness from Covid-19, recent studies have shown this is not the case in well-controlled asthmatics,” Candice said.
She added that people should continue taking and seeking treatment, safely, and not to stop taking prescribed allergy or asthma medications, including inhaled or oral corticosteroids.
Symptoms of allergies and Covid-19 can be similar, which has been a source of concern for many. Coughing for example, is common to asthma and coronavirus, yet fever, body aches and pains which are usually experienced during coronavirus, are rarely related to asthma.
“If you have asthma, continuing to control it could help you defend against the virus. Taking prescribed controller therapy daily, whether you have symptoms or not, helps repair swelling and inflammation in the lungs so that you’re better able to fight off viruses including the coronavirus,” Candice added.
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