Tag Archives: allergic reaction

First-Ever Allergy Awareness Night at PNC Park, Friday, August 10, to Raise Understanding of Life-Threatening Allergies

Posted on by Standard 2

PNC Park

PNC Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think I just got a press release.  How neat is that?  Ha ha.  I feel like an official Food Allergy news outlet.

I sure never thought I’d be blogging about baseball.

Please, feel free to pass along all of this information as soon as possible.  August 10th is quickly approaching!

From: Matthew Price <MPrice@ccapr.com>
To: me@my.email.address
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 1:53 PM
Subject: First-Ever Allergy Awareness Night at PNC Park, Friday, August 10, to Raise Understanding of Life-Threatening Allergies

Dear Eric,

I thought you and readers of your blog might be interested in this story about an upcoming peanut-free baseball game.

The Pittsburgh Pirates can add another tally to the “win” column with a victory for fans with life-threatening peanut allergies when the team hosts its first-ever Allergy Awareness game at PNC Park on August 10, 2012. The game is sponsored by Mylan Specialty L.P.

Baseball games pose a significant challenge for many families living with life-threatening allergies, because many fan-favorite foods, including peanuts, can trigger anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction. Food allergies are the most common cause of anaphylaxis and affect about one out of 13 children in the United States. Insect venom, latex and medication can also cause a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Pittsburgh Pirates Allergy Awareness Night At-a-Glance:

WHAT: The Pittsburgh Pirates partner with Mylan Specialty L.P. to host the first-ever Allergy Awareness night at PNC Park.

WHEN: Friday, August 10, 2012 – 7:05 p.m. ET

WHERE: PNC Park, 115 Federal St, Pittsburgh, PA. Click here for directions and parking information.

WHO: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Diego Padres.

TICKETS: Order tickets for the peanut-controlled section through 1-800-BUY-BUCS or www.pirates.com/allergyawareness.

The full press release is copied below for your reference or is available at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mylan-specialty-lp-partners-with-the-pittsburgh-pirates-to-sponsor-pnc-parks-first-allergy-awareness-night-164421296.html.

Thank you,
Matt
Matthew Price
Chandler Chicco Agency
T. 212.462.8710
F. 212.463.6770
The Holmes Report’s “Healthcare Agency of the Decade”
www.ccapr.com

*******************

Mylan Specialty L.P. Partners with the Pittsburgh Pirates to Sponsor PNC Park’s First Allergy Awareness Night

  Fans with Life-Threatening Peanut Allergies Able to Enjoy Night Out Rooting
for Home Team

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. and PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates are partnering with Mylan Specialty L.P., the fully-integrated specialty pharmaceutical business of Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL), to host the first-ever Pirates Allergy Awareness night at PNC Park on Friday, August 10. The Pirates will reserve a special area of the ballpark for those who have a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, the most common food allergen among children. The Pirates also will provide tips throughout the game to help their fans be more aware of life-threatening allergic reactions, or anaphylaxis.

“Life-threatening allergies are a growing public health problem, particularly among children and teens. In fact, a recent study shows as many as one in 13 children in the U.S. suffer from a food allergy,” said Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan Inc. “We are proud to partner with our hometown team to help the people of Pittsburgh and their family members with life-threatening peanut allergies experience the fun and excitement of a night out at the ball park.”

Mylan Specialty L.P. is the official sponsor of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first Allergy Awareness night at PNC Park to take place at the August 10 game against the San Diego Padres. That night, like every Friday home game is a Free Shirt Friday, during which all fans get a complimentary Pirates T-Shirt, with paid admission. To purchase tickets in the peanut-controlled area for this game, please visit www.pirates.com/allergyawareness or call 1-800-BUY-BUCS.

“We are excited to work with Mylan to ensure increased awareness of this important issue, and to help provide a fun experience at PNC Park for our dedicated fans with life-threatening allergies,” said Pirates President Frank Coonelly. “Pirates baseball is one of the hottest tickets in town and we want to take steps to ensure all fans are able to enjoy the best ballpark in America.”

Throughout the evening, fans will be educated about life-threatening allergies. Because anaphylaxis can happen anywhere and at any time, it is important for everyone to be able to identify and avoid their allergic triggers, recognize anaphylaxis signs and symptoms, and understand how to act quickly and appropriately by seeking emergency care when a life-threatening allergic reaction occurs.  In addition, Pirates coach Mark Strittmatter will present a 30-second video about the risks of life-threatening allergies, and encourage fans to visit www.MyAllergySurvey.com.

Pittsburgh Pirates Allergy Awareness Night At-a-Glance:

WHAT: The Pittsburgh Pirates partner with Mylan Specialty L.P. to host the first-ever Allergy Awareness night at PNC Park.

WHEN: Friday, August 10, 2012 – 7:05 p.m. ET

WHERE: PNC Park, 115 Federal St, Pittsburgh, PA. Click here for directions and parking information.

WHO: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Diego Padres.

TICKETS: Order tickets for the peanut-controlled section through 1-800-BUY-BUCS or www.pirates.com/allergyawareness.

About Anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction that has many possible triggers, occurs quickly, without warning, and should be treated immediately with epinephrine.Symptoms may include hives or redness of the skin, tightness in the throat, nausea, dizziness, breathing problems and/or a decrease in blood pressure. Anaphylaxis can be caused by triggers such as food, stinging and biting insects, medicines, latex or even exercise.The most common food allergens that can cause anaphylaxis include cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, cashews, pistachios, pecans, etc.), fish, shellfish, soybeans and wheat. Epinephrine is the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. Epinephrine is a naturally-occurring hormone, also known as adrenaline, and it should be available at all times to patients at risk. Failure to administer epinephrine early in the course of treatment has been repeatedly implicated with anaphylaxis fatalities.

About Mylan Specialty
Mylan Specialty, a subsidiary of Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq: MYL), is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription drug products for the treatment of respiratory diseases, life-threatening allergic reactions and psychiatric disorders. The company puts patients first and facilitates efficient, cost-effective partnerships with customers. For more information, please visit www.mylanspecialty.com.

About Mylan
Mylan is a global pharmaceutical company committed to setting new standards in health care. Working together around the world to provide 7 billion people access to high quality medicine, we innovate to satisfy unmet needs; make reliability and service a habit, do what’s right, not what’s easy and impact the future through passionate global leadership. We offer a growing portfolio of more than 1,100 generic pharmaceuticals and several brand medications. In addition, we offer a wide range of antiretroviral therapies, upon which approximately one-third of HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries depend. We also operate one of the largest active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers and currently market products in approximately 150 countries and territories. Our workforce of more than 18,000 people is dedicated to improving the customer experience and increasing pharmaceutical access to consumers around the world. But don’t take our word for it. See for yourself. See inside. mylan.com

SOURCE Mylan Inc.

Venezuelan Summer Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Am I an official media outlet now?  Ha ha.  I will do my best to spread the word on my humble little corner of the internet.  I really appreciate Matthew’s taking the time to pass this information along.  I know other ball parks have done similar evenings.  Raising awareness is at times an uphill battle, this is an incredible effort by The Pittsburgh Pirates & PNC Park.

So, how about a no shellfish night?  Ah, I stick to Primanti Bros. inside the parks anyway.

Related Articles

This is why we need epi-pens in schools!

Posted on by Standard 6

Finally, some good food allergy related news from a school surrounding the use of epinephrine auto-injectors…

English: Adult (0.3mg) and pediatric (0.15mg) ...

Epi-Pens to the rescue!

I for one was growing tired of the tragic stories.  Jared Smyth and his school had an action plan, and it saved his life.  This is how all these types of stories should end!  Congratulations to all involved!  The kid himself, the school nurse, the parents, the administration, the hospital, and the media for covering good news.

Sadly, I can only find one source for the article, while there were a plethora for Ammaria Johnson & Katelyn Carlson.  More media outlets need to pick this up & run with it!  Get the word out there that having epi-pens in schools is a great thing!  Of course, it always helps to educate your child on not taking any food from others… but as evidenced, it’s not always that easy, and accidents do happen.

Related articles

Aller-G’s

Posted on by Standard 1

…Saw some more cool tweets about allergies today, again from pnutfreeworld.  They all caught my eye, and put me in a slightly better mood.  I’m not allergic to peanuts, but a lot of other people out there are.  I’m allergic to shellfish, and all of us that suffer from severe allergies need to stick together… so I’ve been following allergy issues on the web more & more.  I thought I might share with the hopes that if you’re out there suffering form allergies, and you happen to stumble upon this blog… you’ll know that there’s a bunch of us out here… or if you have a friend or family member that suffers form allergies, this may offer you some insight into their world.

The first one that jumped out at me today, was this one…

Law Makes Allergies a Restaurant’s Responsibility, Too – A Massachusetts Regulation Requires Restaurants to Get Food Allergy Training

If you saw my blog the other day about the two thrilling tweets, this would be the conclusion.  Apparently it passed! I know… this is odd for me to celebrate.  Normally, I’m anti- anything that has to do with making more rules & regulations or expanding government.  But, this just hits too close for me on a personal level to not be behind it.  I just hope they go about it efficiently.

Basically, the law says that if you’re a customer, you need to speak up and inform the restaurant of your allergy, and if you’re a restaurant, it’s your responsibility to have all of your employees trained and certified on allergy safety and cross contamination issues.  I realize that this is not a fool-proof system, and that I don’t even live near Massachusetts, but it gives me hope that other states may one day follow suit.  I now have something concrete to write about to my local politicians… and say “hey, look… they’re doing something that makes sense”.

Sadly, the legislation doesn’t seem to point to chain restaurants… like Subway, where cross-contamination with the seafood sub is a major issue.  It does, however, give me hope that I will someday be able to dine in an upscale restaurant with no abnormal concern for my safety.

If you’ve read my trifecta of tirades on the food industry & cleanliness & allergy issues, (That’s 1, 2, & 3) then you know that there are others out there who think that implementing such training would not only be impractical, but it would be just not done at all or treated like a joke from all concerned parties.  I really, really hope that’s not the case once this is put into effect.  I would hope that this would be an issue that’s handled quite seriously… it is, after all, a life-or-death issue.

The second article’s title made me think, “damn right”…

Food on the road can be a minefield – Taking steps to minimize the risks from allergies

Now, this is from a Canadian publication, and they seem to have a lot more government regulation already… but I don’t really support banning things like they seem to want to do.  Education and training is what we need. This article is a nice list of websites and literature that you can look to for support in dining out while traveling abroad.

I’m going to have to look into these sites a little more, and see if there’s anything worth noting or sharing.

There are two not mentioned in the article that look promising… but they really need their databases updated if they’re going to be useful at all:  Can I Eat There? & Shellfish Free

I’m also hoping UrbanSpoon.com one day makes note of more than just gluten-allergy friendly restaurants… and picks up on the big 8.

This last one is cool on a geek front as well as an allergy front…

Peanut Allergy Blocker On The Way

The concept just blows my mind.  I’ve said before… even if I was given a cure tomorrow, I doubt I’d ever even want shellfish at this point… but at least I’d be able to eat food off of the same grill or out of the same fryer without hesitation or anaphylactic repercussions.

I’ve read a lot about the causes of allergies… and asked a lot of questions of doctors.  It’s amazing how much they don’t know… but this article is very enlightening, and it’s all broken down so it’s easy to understand:

Dr Suphioglu said that the work being done by his team also has potential benefits for all allergy sufferers. “Taking a step further back in how an allergic reaction occurs, we are also carrying out research into how we can prevent the allergen specific antibodies from being produced at all.

“In an allergic reaction, the body produces cell signalling molecules called cytokines to trigger the production of antibodies. If we can neutralise the cytokines involved with the allergic reaction, we can potentially block or reduce the production of the antibodies. In recent preliminary results we have successfully identified a substance that interacts with one of the key cytokines involved in the allergic reaction. We are now assessing the capacity of this substance to block or reduce antibody production in the allergic reaction.”

Dr Suphioglu is confident that his team’s allergy research work will result in better treatments for allergy sufferers. “I believe our research into understanding the molecular and allergenic properties of major peanut allergens together with our work on how to prevent or inhibit allergic reactions will contribute to the development of safer and more effective methods for peanut allergy diagnosis, prevention and treatment as well as benefit sufferers of other allergies.”

I’ve read a bunch of articles pertaining to the links between asthma and dust mite allergies and their relation to the severe shellfish allergies.  It’s really interesting stuff.  I hope all of these studies merge in the near future, and perhaps there will be an end to all my allergy-related rants!