Seeking Patient Care?
The Division of Allergy and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is dedicated to caring for patients and includes some of the world’s most renowned researchers in allergy and immunology.
Our physicians treat all infectious diseases, allergies, and immune disorders in babies, children and adolescents with an emphasis on:
Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Management
Allergies are among the most common chronic conditions worldwide. Allergy symptoms range from making a person miserable to putting one at risk for life-threatening reactions.
According to the leading experts in allergy, an allergic reaction begins in the immune system. The immune system protects us from invading organisms that can cause illness. With an allergy, the immune system mistakes an otherwise harmless substance as an invader. This substance is called an allergen. The immune system overreacts to the allergen by producing Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. These antibodies travel to cells that release histamine and other chemicals, causing an allergic reaction.
Allergy Symptoms
An allergic reaction typically triggers symptoms in the nose, lungs, throat, sinuses, ears, lining of the stomach or on the skin. For some, allergies can also trigger symptoms of asthma. In the most serious cases, a life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis can occur.
A number of different allergens are responsible for allergic reactions. The most common include:
- Pollen
- Dust
- Food
- Insect stings
- Animal dander
- Mold
- Medications/Drugs
- Latex
Allergy Diagnosis
If a patient has allergy symptoms, an allergist / immunologist, often referred to as an allergist, can help with a diagnosis. An allergist has advanced training and experience to properly diagnose a condition and prescribe an allergy treatment and management plan.
UM is a designated Jeffrey Modell Center for Diagnostic Immunology and serves as a Florida Department of Health designated Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) referral center for South Florida.
Primary Immunodeficiency (Pl). Primary Immunodeficiency causes children and adults to have infections that come back frequently or are unusually hard to cure. One in 500 persons are affected by one of the known primary immunodeficiencies.
Warning Signs
- Four or more new ear infections within 1 year
- Two or more serious sinus infections within 1 year
- Two or more months on antibiotics with little effect
- Two or more pneumonias within 1 year
- Failure of an infant to gain weight or grow normally
- Recurrent, deep skin or organ abscesses
- Persistent thrush in mouth or fungal infection on skin
- Need for intravenous antibiotics to clear infections
- Two or more deep-seated infections including septicemia
- A family history of PI