This week is World Allergy Week and a great time to start thinking about how you can reduce your exposure to household allergy triggers before the cold weather arrives. More than 7 million Aussies have allergies, which are often triggered in winter when we spend more time indoors with those nasties like mould and dust mites. Our latest blog post includes some simple tips to help you Ward off those winter allergies and breathe easier during the colder months.
Are you or your mum at risk?
Sadly, asthma can be life-threatening, and it’s older women who are most at risk. The latest report from the ABS shows that nearly half (45%) of all deaths due to asthma in 2014 were in women over 75. We recently had an opportunity to chat to Pat Curry from Melbourne, who shed some light on what it is to be an older Australian living with asthma. Read our interview with Pat here.
Share your allergy tips for a chance to win!
Celebrations continue for World Allergy Week thanks to the generous support of our Sensitive Choice partners Tontine, Monster and Phillips. Share your best tip for managing allergies as part of our new competition and you could win some great prizes. Enter here.
New surgery trials offer hope for severe asthma sufferers
A year long trial has found that a relatively new medical procedure could dramatically improve the lives of those Australians with severe asthma. Bronchial thermoplasty has been carried out on 17 Australians with encouraging results.
Our Chairman Dr Jonathan Burdon AM recently spoke with ABC News about this new procedure. 'This is an encouraging new technology and early results suggest that it will be useful, at least for some patients. I don't think it's been completely determined which people will do the best with it.' Read the ABC News article here.
Finding trustworthy information on the net
Dr Anthea Rhodes, a paediatrician from the Royal Children's Hospital weighs in on 'Dr Google' with her blog article showing top tips for sifting through online child health information. Dr Rhodes says that 'it is important not to use online health information to self-diagnose or self-medicate for yourself or your children. Online health information can never replace a visit to a qualified health care practitioner.' Read Dr Rhodes' blog article here.
