I was reminded last week by an excellent post on Ruth Holroyd's What Allergy? blog of the Pholcodine issue which, 25 years after it was first discussed, has still not been resolved in the UK. Pholcodine is a drug that is to be found in a wide range of cough medicines. …
Dr Harry Morrow Brown
Dr Bill Frankland, the grandfather of allergy, dies aged 108
Many of you will already have heard or read that the truly amazing Dr Bill Frankland died last week. Amazing because he lived to be 108 and was still razor sharp and reading scientific journals until the day before he died, amazing because he survived three and a half years …
Obscure intolerances poorly served – and don’t we know it!
From a salicylate-intolerant site visitor who has been batted backwards and forwards between allergy and dermatology departments, neither of whom will give her the time of day because they have tested her for the full gamut of IgE mediated 'proper' allergies – and she does not …
The importance of ‘history’ in diagnosis, especially in allergy
In a recent post on his blog Dr Briffa bemoaned the over-reliance of the modern medical profession on 'tests' to the exclusion of the exercise of their clinical skills. His mini rant had been set off by an article in the BMJ by Dr Des Spence accusing modern doctors of being so …
In memoriam – Dr Harry Morrow Brown
Sadly, but not unexpectedly, Dr Harry Morrow Brown finally lost his battle to keep his heart ticking last week. He was 96. I first met Harry and Freda nearly 30 years ago at the Oxford Food Symposium. How come? Well, Freda was interested in food so they thought they would …