What's new in pediatric allergology in 2010? Part 2: Ocular and respiratory allergy (a review of the 2010 international literature)

It is difficult to summarize in 250 words the large number of studies published in 2010. In our opinion, the most important results are: (a) prospective studies in numerous children confirm that early rhinitis (allergic and non allergic), high levels of eNO and of eosinophil cationic protein in nasopharyngeal secretions of young wheezing children, exposure to cat, molds, and ambient air and domestic pollutants during early childhood are significant risk factors for asthma in later childhood, teenagers and young adults; (b) the risks associated with allergen, microbial substances and pollutant exposure are modulated by genes expressed by the children, but several pollutants also induce epigenetic alterations which may increase later asthma risk; (c) relationship between early paracetamol exposure and asthma are probably not relations of cause and effect, and are probably explained by the frequency of febrile respiratory infections leading to paracetamol consumption; (d) preliminary results suggest that transcutaneous specific immunotherapy may become an alternative to subcutaneous and sublingual hyposensitization. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.