Mining Social Media Data to Assess the Risk of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections from Allergen Immunotherapy

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) treatment for allergic rhinitis and asthma is used by 2.6 million Americans annually. Clinical and sterility testing studies identify no risk of contamination or infection from extracts prepared using recommended aseptic techniques. Regulatory changes to extract preparation are under consideration. Social media can be used to investigate rare adverse effects not captured by traditional studies. We investigated large social media databases for suggestion of AIT infection risk.

Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - February 1, 2019 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Aidan A. Long, Maxim Topaz, Li Zhou, Tyler Harkness, Mariah Ollive, Roee Sa'adon, Ofrit Bar-Bachar, Kimberly G. Blumenthal Source Type: research