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Article: Allergy Shots and Asthma
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 22, 1996
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Allergy shots appear to help very little, if at all, when
people have asthma caused by ragweed.
The shots are clearly effective for relieving the misery of
hay fever. But doctors are less certain about whether they reduce
symptoms of asthma that is triggered by ragweed pollen.
To find out, researchers tested this common treatment, called
allergen immunotherapy, on 77 asthmatics who were allergic to
ragweed. Half got shots of ragweed pollen extract, while the rest
received dummy injections.
During the first year of treatment, lung function was slightly
better in the people getting the real shots, and those people also
used less anti-asthma medication than the placebo group. But ...