Spring is exam time – and pollen season. It’s also a bad combination for pupils suffering from pollen allergies, or hay fever.

Phthalates, which are used as plasticizers in plastics, can considerably increase the risk of allergies among children.

Despite standard use for the itching associated with urticaria (commonly known as hives), prednisone (a steroid) offered no additional relief to emergency patients suffering from hives than a placebo did, according to a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group study published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

A large randomized controlled, pragmatic trial involving 1445 patients with allergic asthma found that an integrative medicine approach in which acupuncture is added to routine care demonstrated improvements in both quality of life and physical and mental health for those receiving acupuncture.

Zika virus can persist in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), lymph nodes and colorectal tissue of infected rhesus monkeys for weeks after the virus has been cleared from blood, urine and mucosal secretions, according to a study published online in Cell.

Atomic Kitten Natasha Hamilton is backing a British Skin Foundation campaign to #AvoidBlackHenna as summer approaches. She joins us in warning the public of the dangers of so-called ‘black henna’ temporary tattoos (BHTTs) after her son suffered a reaction earlier this year. Upon returning from a holiday in Morocco, Alfie aged six was left with a scar on his leg where the BHTT had been.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health threat. So much so that a 2014 study commissioned by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom predicted that, if the problem is left unchecked, in less than 35 years more people will die from antibiotic-resistant superbugs than from cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Brineura (cerliponase alfa) as a treatment for a specific form of Batten disease. Brineura is the first FDA-approved treatment to slow loss of walking ability in symptomatic pediatric patients 3 years of age and older with late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2), also known as tripeptidyl peptidase-1 (TPP1) deficiency.

Shire plc and Parion Sciences, Inc. have announced they have entered into an agreement granting Shire exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize P-321. Shire will lead development of P-321, an investigational epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) inhibitor for the potential treatment of dry eye disease in adults, with the opportunity for Parion to co-fund.