Drug, Allergic Reaction Linked

The popular alternative drug echinacea can cause allergic reactions, particularly in folks who have a hereditary bent toward allergic disease. A study by researchers at the John James Medical Centre in Canberra, Australia, links 23 cases of allergic reactions to echinacea.

The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in San Diego, says a further study of 100 individuals who had never taken echinacea shows 20 percent had positive skin allergy tests to it. The researchers suggest physicians take a more active role in talking about alternative medications to patients who are prone to allergic diseases.

Another study presented at the meeting finds traditional Chinese medicines may have some therapeutic effects on allergic asthma. Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health say they tested two Chinese medicine formulas, Ding-Chuan-Tang (DCT) and Jia Wei San Zi Tang (Modified Three Seeds Decoction, MTSD).

The study says the Chinese drugs given to mice help reduce inflammatory symptoms and airway hyper-reactivity. It finds the MTSD was more effective than the DCT but both did help.