EPITOMES-ALLERGY
Allergy and School Children APPROXIMATELY ONE in seven school age children has significant respiratory and other allergies. Children spend a large portion of their wakeful day at school. Their performance tends to parallel their health. School personnel often know little about the special needs of allergic students. Allergic disorders are the commonest health problem noted in the school age population. It is desirable that school authorities, their local medical advisory boards, personal physicians and allergists develop more specific guidelines in behalf of children with allergies. Continuing inservice training
is
basic.
The following considerations are extremely important to the welfare of allergic school children: Physical education and sports. Children with allergies, particularly asthma, need understanding and appropriate encouragement. * Respective functional roles for school nurses, classroom teachers, physical education instructors and administrators in identifying allergy reactions, dispensing medication, and notifying staff, parents and family physicians. * Maintenance of allergy environmental control. Recognition and attention to the roles of dust, upholstery, dander, fur, feathers, carpets and pads, chalk, cosmetics, flowers, pollens, mildew, woodwork and metal dusts, printing, odors, chemical
disinfectants, sprays, detergents, paints, hydrocarbons, construction and heating and ventilation systems. * Respect for food allergies. Students have dietary restrictions due to their respiratory, gastrointestinal or skin allergies, and also to "allergic toxemia" (headaches, stomach aches, muscle aches, irritability, tiredness, pallor and the like). Understanding and cooperation are needed to allow these children to have their correct diets. * Recognition of the vulnerability of allergic children to allergens (ingestants and inhalants), and the role of trigger factors (infections, smoking, emotions, pollutants, exertion, wind, humidity, inclement weather and the like) to cause substantial allergy distress. * Awareness of the need of allergic children for their medications, and recognition of the frequent side effects from overmedication, particularly with antihistamines and bronchodilators. It is incumbent upon those of us responsible for the health and welfare of children to properly attend to their special needs in school in a direct and purposeful way. WILLIAM H. ZIERING, MD REFERENCES Gribbin A: Nothing to sneeze at. National Observer, Mar 1974 Rapp D: Questions and Answers About Allergies, New York, Drake Publishers, 1974 Patterson R: Allergic Diseases, Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1972 Tuft L: Allergy Management in Clinical Practice, St. Louis, C. V. Mosby Co, 1973
ADVISORY PANEL TO THE SECTION ON ALLERGY WILLIM D. MCKEE, MD, Chairman, Palo Alto CMA Scientific Board WILLAM J. SAYER, MD CMA Section on Allergy Chairman Palo Alto ARTHUR TURK, MD CMA Section on Allergy Secretary Garden Grove WILLIAM ZIERING, MD CMA Section on Allergy Assistant Secretary
NORMAN LEWISTON, MD Stanford University HARoLD NOVEY, MD University of California, Irvine THoMAs L. NELSON, MD University of California, Irvine GILDON BEALL, MD University of California, Los Angeles
Fresno
DOUGLAS HEINER, MD University of California, Los Angeles
J. GARLAND STROUP, MD Sacramento
ROBERT HAMBURGER, MD University of California, San Diego
ABBA TERR, MD Stanford University
WILLuAM DEAMER, MD University of California, San Francisco
ZACK HADDAD, MD University of Southern California Los Angeles BEATRICE RrrTENBERG, MD San Francisco JAMES P. KEMP, MD San Diego DANIEL GORENBERG, MD San Bernardino STEPHEN M. NAGY, JR, MD Sacramento NED J; WHITCOMB, MD Sacramento STANLEY GALANT, MD Irvine
THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
497
Allergy and School Children APPROXIMATELY ONE in seven school age children has significant respiratory and other allergies. Children spend a large portion of their wakeful day at school. Their performance tends to parallel their health. School personnel often know little about the special needs of allergic students. Allergic disorders are the commonest health problem noted in the school age population. It is desirable that school authorities, their local medical advisory boards, personal physicians and allergists develop more specific guidelines in behalf of children with allergies. Continuing inservice training
is
basic.
The following considerations are extremely important to the welfare of allergic school children: Physical education and sports. Children with allergies, particularly asthma, need understanding and appropriate encouragement. * Respective functional roles for school nurses, classroom teachers, physical education instructors and administrators in identifying allergy reactions, dispensing medication, and notifying staff, parents and family physicians. * Maintenance of allergy environmental control. Recognition and attention to the roles of dust, upholstery, dander, fur, feathers, carpets and pads, chalk, cosmetics, flowers, pollens, mildew, woodwork and metal dusts, printing, odors, chemical
disinfectants, sprays, detergents, paints, hydrocarbons, construction and heating and ventilation systems. * Respect for food allergies. Students have dietary restrictions due to their respiratory, gastrointestinal or skin allergies, and also to "allergic toxemia" (headaches, stomach aches, muscle aches, irritability, tiredness, pallor and the like). Understanding and cooperation are needed to allow these children to have their correct diets. * Recognition of the vulnerability of allergic children to allergens (ingestants and inhalants), and the role of trigger factors (infections, smoking, emotions, pollutants, exertion, wind, humidity, inclement weather and the like) to cause substantial allergy distress. * Awareness of the need of allergic children for their medications, and recognition of the frequent side effects from overmedication, particularly with antihistamines and bronchodilators. It is incumbent upon those of us responsible for the health and welfare of children to properly attend to their special needs in school in a direct and purposeful way. WILLIAM H. ZIERING, MD REFERENCES Gribbin A: Nothing to sneeze at. National Observer, Mar 1974 Rapp D: Questions and Answers About Allergies, New York, Drake Publishers, 1974 Patterson R: Allergic Diseases, Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1972 Tuft L: Allergy Management in Clinical Practice, St. Louis, C. V. Mosby Co, 1973
ADVISORY PANEL TO THE SECTION ON ALLERGY WILLIM D. MCKEE, MD, Chairman, Palo Alto CMA Scientific Board WILLAM J. SAYER, MD CMA Section on Allergy Chairman Palo Alto ARTHUR TURK, MD CMA Section on Allergy Secretary Garden Grove WILLIAM ZIERING, MD CMA Section on Allergy Assistant Secretary
NORMAN LEWISTON, MD Stanford University HARoLD NOVEY, MD University of California, Irvine THoMAs L. NELSON, MD University of California, Irvine GILDON BEALL, MD University of California, Los Angeles
Fresno
DOUGLAS HEINER, MD University of California, Los Angeles
J. GARLAND STROUP, MD Sacramento
ROBERT HAMBURGER, MD University of California, San Diego
ABBA TERR, MD Stanford University
WILLuAM DEAMER, MD University of California, San Francisco
ZACK HADDAD, MD University of Southern California Los Angeles BEATRICE RrrTENBERG, MD San Francisco JAMES P. KEMP, MD San Diego DANIEL GORENBERG, MD San Bernardino STEPHEN M. NAGY, JR, MD Sacramento NED J; WHITCOMB, MD Sacramento STANLEY GALANT, MD Irvine
THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
497
