Allergies in the Classroom

 

If your child suffers from allergies you’ve probably taken steps to reduce the number of allergens in your home environment. But when it comes to taking your child outside the home, you have much less control. And of course, a large chunk of your child’s time is spent in the school environment. If your child suffers from severe allergies, you may need to speak to your school about a plan to help your child deal with allergic triggers in the classroom.

According to the Journal of Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 50 percent of children in the UK suffer from an allergy. Common childhood allergies include asthma, rhinitis and eczema – all of which can be triggered by allergens found in the classroom such as dust mites and pet hair which can be carried in on the clothing of other children.

 

Carpets and Clutter

Suffering from allergic reactions whilst at school is not only uncomfortable but can also impact heavily on a child’s ability to concentrate during lessons. If your child’s allergies are triggered in the classroom, the school should be willing to help. One major problem, particularly in primary school, is that children are often asked to sit on the floor where there may be a greater number of dust mites and other indoor allergens. Some schools have taken steps to replace traditional carpets with flooring that is specifically designed to reduce allergens. Other things that the school can do include keeping classrooms well ventilated and ensuring that rooms are kept clear of unnecessary clutter.

 

Managing Medication

If your child has other serious allergies – such as food allergies or an allergy to insect bites or stings, it’s important to make the school aware of the risks they face. Make sure your child understands their allergy, its triggers and how to treat a reaction. You should also arrange a meeting with the school before the start of term to ensure that your child’s teachers know what to do if your child suffers from an allergic reaction whilst at school. It’s a good idea to give teachers written information about the allergy and an allergy management plan for your child – particularly if the allergy is less common.

Staff at the school should feel confident helping your child with medication if necessary and should know what to do in an emergency. If your child has an auto injector pen for use in emergencies, your doctor may be able to provide a training session to show school staff how to use it.

If your child has a serious food allergy, the school may write to other parents asking them not to include a particular ingredient in their own child’s packed lunch.

 

Planning for the Unexpected

Of course, the school day does not always follow the same pattern and there may be times when children take a lesson outdoors, go on a trip, or have visitors coming into the school. It’s worth discussing with your child’s teachers about any unusual lesson plans that are coming up each term so you can assess any risks and take action. Cookery demonstrations, visits by exotic animals, or craft workshops may all feature allergic triggers that are not normally found in the classroom.

 

For more information about dealing with allergies at school, visit: www.allergyuk.org

Categories: allergic triggers, allergies, allergy, Child, child suffers, classroom, Dust Mites, School

Make Your Home Safe from Allergens and Mold with These Tips

Sometimes we don’t realize that the biggest cause of our allergies and illnesses can be our home. Our home is where we feel safe, so it’s natural to overlook its potential to cause allergies, asthma irritation, and other respiratory illnesses. No matter the age of your house, it’s a good idea to give your house a once over to ensure you aren’t dealing with any kind of mold or excess allergens that could be making your family ill.

 

 

Deal with Dust Mites

You might think that just because your surfaces are dust free that you’ve eliminated a majority of household allergens, but think again. Dust mites are a common trigger for allergies and asthma and are found in bedding and rugs. If you have a family member with asthma, ensure that bedding, curtains, and carpets are cleaned regularly. Using special covers for your mattresses and box springs will help curb the dust mite population, too.

Preventing Mold

Once mold has established itself, it’s hard to get rid of without tearing out and replacing everything it has invaded. Instead, it’s best to prevent mold before it happens. Mold requires moisture to grow, so eliminating and/or reducing the moisture in your house is key, especially if you live in a hot climate or an already humid region. You probably know to do things like fix leaks, use dehumidifiers, and wipe down wet areas, but there are a few other things you can do to stop moisture. Keep the house warm in cool weather, as cooler air allows moisture to condense on surfaces. You should also have an HVAC technician out twice a year to ensure all of your heating and cooling systems’ parts are operating to properly remove moisture from the air.

Control Pet Dander

Your furry family members can be a major source of allergens. Keep pets out of sleeping areas, and if you have a particularly sensitive family member, clean upholstered furniture and heavily used carpets once or twice a week. Experts recommend using vacuums with HEPA filters or double bags to get the most dander and dust out of carpets and upholstery.

Let the Professionals Deal with Mold

While you can certainly handle the preventative measures in your home, if you do find your house has a mold problem, it’s best to let the professionals from companies like Bios Environments in Augusta, ME, clean it up. Most household cleaners will wipe away mold, but they won’t kill mold spores. This means you’re not stopping or preventing it from spreading. To keep it from coming back, professionals have the equipment to properly rid your house of mold.

With regular home maintenance and cleaning, you can be successful in eliminating and controlling common household allergens and molds. Follow your doctor’s recommendations for controlling the safety of your home if you have family members with asthma or more severe allergies.

Categories: allergens, Dust Mites, family health, mold, Pet Dander

Could Colds During Pregnancy Lead To Child Asthma?

Studies suggest that mothers who catch a cold during pregnancy could be more likely to have children who develop asthma, as the bacteria and viruses affect the in-utero environment. Babies who are exposed to the allergens are more likely to become sensitive to them and this could affect them later in life, according to researchers. The new study, which examined the risk of the common cold to unborn children, shows that women who are pregnant should take extra precautions around people who have colds and are sneezing, as it could lead to problems for their children later in life. The mothers infections and bacterial exposure during the pregnancy leads to the environment in the womb being altered. Allergist Dr Mitch Grayson stated that in addition to this, the same children in the study who had early exposure to allergens, including house dust and pet hair, also had increased odds of becoming sensitive by the age of five. When dust mites from the mother and the child’s mattresses were analysed, children with high dust mite exposure yet low bacteria exposure were more likely to develop allergies to dust mites than those with low dust mite exposure and high bacteria exposure.

 

Researchers looked at 513 pregnant women in Germany, and their 526 children. The women completed questionnaires during the pregnancy, when the children were 3 and 12 months old, and then every year up until the children reached five years old. Of the families, 61 per cent of them had a parent with asthma, hay fever or atopic dermatitis. According to the ACAAI, asthma and allergies can be hereditary; if both parents have allergies, the child is as much as 75 per cent more likely to be allergic. If just one parent is allergic, or if a close relative has allergies, then the child has a 30 to 40 per cent chance of developing some form of allergy. This drops to just 10 to 15 per cent if neither parent has an allergy. Researchers claim that they now know for certain that allergies and asthma can develop in the womb, as genetics play an important factor in both diseases. However, this study sheds light on how the environment a mother creates during pregnancy can begin to affect the child before it’s even been born. Asthma is the most common potentially serious medical condition to complicate pregnancy, according to the ACAAI.

 

Asthma affects around 1 in 12 women during their childbearing years, and when women with asthma become pregnant, one third of the patients improve, one third get worse, and one third remain unchanged. Asthma is a serious condition which affects a number of people and has numerous triggers, including house mites, dust, pollen and pollution. As pollution and toxins in the air have increased over the years, the risk of developing respiratory diseases has also increased. There are ways to treat asthma and, depending on the severity of the condition, your child may require medication to maintain it. If you’re concerned about the risk colds and asthma have to your baby, or think your child is developing symptoms of asthma, you should seek advice from your GP as soon as possible. As with any pregnancy, it’s important to stay as healthy as possible, maintain a balanced diet which includes all the nutrients both you and your baby need, and get enough exercise; you should also avoid alcohol and smoking, to maintain good health for both you and your baby.

Categories: Asthma, bacteria exposure, Child, Children, dust mite, Dust Mites, exposure, mite exposure, new study, pregnancy

Office Hygiene: How to Avoid Allergy Triggers at Work

People spend majority of their time at the office, maybe even more so than they do at home, especially if they are workaholics who always do overtime. However, the long hours spent at work can be rendered unproductive in the case of an employee who has allergies. The office after all is home to several hot-spots for allergens and they can take its toll on the health of allergy sufferers. If you suffer from allergies, here are some of the things you can do to avoid triggering your allergies.

Clean Your Desk Daily

One of the things that I am obsessive-compulsive about is cleaning my desk. When I come back to the office after the weekend, there is always this thin sheet of dust covering its surface. I usually wipe it with alcohol and tissue to remove every speck of dust. If I forget to, my arms often feel itchy after contact with my desk and dust mites. It’s even more vital to clean your desk daily especially if you’re sharing your cubicle with another person who is on graveyard shift. You never know the germs that might be left behind. Your cubemate may have sneezed on your keyboard and pass on colds or flu to you without you knowing. Some may find it a hassle to clean every day, but when it comes to safeguarding your health, you can’t afford not to be vigilant.

Vacuum Frequently

There is a need to vacuum your office frequently, especially if you have a carpeted floor. Carpets are a hot spot for dust mites. If your floor is concrete and you have a carpet covering it, there is chance for moisture to become trapped. When this happens, it becomes a breeding ground for dust mites, and it also allow molds to thrive. Another reason why vacuuming must be done frequently is because of the pet hairs that might have found their way into the building by those who own cats or dogs. Those who are allergic to pet hair will be affected by this and their performance at work will suffer. This is why I believe it’s important for any company to invest in a smart vacuum cleaner. There are brands like Neato Robotics that have a range of smart floor cleaners, including a model designed to pick up allergens and hard-to-remove pet hair.

Maintain Good Air Filtration

Pollen is a seasonal allergen that can find its way inside the office through ventilation or when windows are opened and closed. Air filters must be changed frequently while the heating system as well as the air conditioning system must be maintained at least twice a year. This is to ensure clean air inside the office. To maintain good air filtration, there is also a need to reduce the amount of indoor plants in the office. Although they help in cleansing the air by absorbing carbon dioxide, it is acts like a double-edged sword. You may have had good intentions in placing plants inside the office for a splash of color and for health purposes, but the downside to this green measure is that they can harbor molds. The danger in this is that molds can release spores, which in turn can cause an allergic reaction among allergy-prone employees.

About the Author

Based in San Diego California, Tiffany Matthews is a professional writer with over 5 years of writing experience. She also blogs about travel, fashion, and anything under the sun at wordbaristas.com, a group blog that she shares with her good friends. In her free time, she likes to travel, read books, and watch movies. You can find her on Twitter as @TiffyCat87.

Categories: air filtration, Allergy Triggers, desk, desk daily, dust, Dust Mites, frequently, health, office, Office Hygiene, pet hair, work

Dust Mites Could Be Top Allergen Trigger For Asthma

The American Asthma Foundation has recently announced that they’ve discovered, through new research, that dust mites are one of the top allergens for people suffering with asthma. Though it’s been known for some time that dust mites trigger asthma attacks, it was not known until recently why the allergic reaction was so strong. Dust mites, it has been found, trick the immune system into believing it is under attack from a bacterial infection. In doing this, the immune system develops a strong allergic response to the mites which can cause asthma attacks to occur.

 

Asthma is a condition which affects the respiratory system and impacts the lives of millions of people every day - it can even be fatal in certain cases, causing those suffering from an attack to stop breathing. This chronic disease is brought on by pollution, irritants in the air and, as this study shows, dust particles and mites. Mould spores and other irritants which can get into the lungs can also affect it, so it’s important that you air your home frequently to allow fresh air to flow through.

 

Though many people think it will make it worse, getting exercise is important to open up the airways and improve your lung capacity – speak to your GP about which forms of exercise are safest though, to avoid overworking your body. Exercise such as yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi are low intensity but will help keep your body flexible and in good shape. A balanced diet will also ensure that you maintain a healthy weight which will also help your breathing capabilities. Many people find that some foods trigger their asthma, such as dairy products, as they cling to the inside of the respiratory tract which can make breathing more difficult. In order to limit this, be sure to lower your dairy intake slightly and fill your diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables to ensure you get plenty of vital nutrients.

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Dust Mites Could Be Top Allergen Trigger For Asthma

Categories: Asthma, Dust Mites, new study