Latest news with #scabies
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
The travel mistake everyone makes that puts you at risk of SCABIES, expert warns
Holidaymakers are making a critical mistake that is putting them at risk of a deadly Victorian skin disease, an expert has warned. According to sleep specialist Martin Seeley, dumping your luggage on a hotel bed could put you at risk of scabies—even in the fanciest of places. The microscopic mites that cause the infection are often found burrowed into bed linen and mattresses, and can easily jump into bags and ultimately travel home with you, he warned. Instead, he told The Mirror, travellers should keep bags elevated on a chair and stool and if you're worried the room isn't clean 'only take out what you need'. Mr Seeley's alert comes amid a 74 per cent increase in scabies cases in NHS hospitals across the country between 2023 and 2024, as well as a 35 per cent rise in infestations of bed bugs since 2022. The highly infectious condition is caused by tiny mites that work their way into the skin, and can spread via person-to-person contact. It causes intense itching, which is mostly noticed at night, typically between the fingers, or around your wrists, elbows, waist and genitals. It can also be accompanied by small, red bumps or track-like burrows on your skin, according to Mr Seeley. 'When staying in hotels or holiday rentals, a quick inspection can go a long way,' he said. 'Check mattress seams, bed frames, and behind headboards before settling in and unpacking your belongings'. Telltale signs of bed bugs meanwhile, are 'small reddish-brown spots on your sheets, moulted skin, or clusters of tiny bites, often in a line or zig-zag pattern,' said Mr Seeley. 'You'll usually find bed bugs in the seams and folds of your mattress if they have decided to take residence.' If you've returned home and discovered bed bugs, you should act quickly, he warned. 'When attempting to eradicate bed bugs, begin by vacuuming thoroughly and remember to dispose of the collected dirt immediately in an outside bin. 'Wash and dry all bedding or clothes… and consider steam cleaning your sofa in case they've transferred there too.' As for scabies: 'Wash all bedding, towels, and clothing in hot water (at least 60°C)… any items that cannot be washed should be sealed in a plastic bag for at least 72 hours. 'You should also make sure that anyone in your household who may have been exposed is treated at the same time to prevent re-infestation.' The NHS advises seeking advice from a pharmacist if you believe you have scabies, who can recommend a cream or lotion. However you should see a GP if you have a child under the age of two, and they or someone in your household has symptoms of scabies. Similarly you should see a doctor if you have skin that may be infected, have eczema, notice crusted or flaky skin, or if symptoms persist two to four weeks after treatment. Fortunately, while bed bug bites and itching from scabies can keep you up at night, the expert from at MattressNextDay shared simple ways to get a better night's sleep. Most commonly bed bug bites cause itchiness, swelling and welts, which can be relieved by taking and antihistamine and keeping the room cool, he suggested. Meanwhile, if you have scabies, applying a prescribed topical treatment at bedtime, keeping your room cool, and using lightweight bedding, can help. He added: 'Trimming your nails can prevent you from scratching too hard in your sleep and causing further infection.' It is also a good idea to invest in a high-quality mattress protector, but you should remove and wash it regularly, he added. He also recommended hoovering your bed frame, wiping down the headboard, and dusting any areas around your bed frequently. In 2023, a number of viral social media videos showed what appeared to be infestations of bed bugs on the London Underground. TikTok and Instagram users urged Transport for London (TfL) to 'sort it out' in the footage, which has been watched millions of times. The clips came amid fears that an infestation of 'super-bedbugs' in Paris, which resulted in hotels and transport being put on red alert, would sweep through the UK.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Diagnosing scabies in the Pacific could get easier and faster, saving lives
ABC: podcast. You're listening to Pacific Pulse on ABC Radio Australia. Matthew Paxman: Part of the issue with scabies is you get these tiny little skin lesions and also through all the extra scratching your skin's inflamed. So you can get bacterial infections through the skin. Melissa Maykin: Have you ever had to scrub and lather to get rid of those relentless little mites called scabies? Australian scientists are now developing a world first rapid test that can spot scabies in just 10 to 20 minutes, no lab needed, and it even detects common bacterial skin infections. Scabies is a huge public health headache across the Pacific, with around 18 to 20% of people in Fiji, Solomon Islands and other places affected, especially children. For those who can't get rid of the mites, scabies can link to serious complications like secondary infections, heart and kidney disease. Thanks to Melbourne, Australia's Zip Diagnostics and trials held in Darwin, this portable battery powered test could revolutionise how remote communities fight this itchy, neglected tropical disease. To dive into the science, I'm speaking to the company's Scientific Director, Associate Professor Jack Richards, and the company's PhD Research Assistant, Matthew Paxman. Associate Professor Jack Richards: Look, it's an interesting disease in many regards. And so it's been of interest to us, firstly because it's actually a really common disease. It's all throughout the world, and estimates are in the range of 200 to even 500 million cases per year of this disease globally. So it's a very common disease. It's highly prevalent through the Pacific. So some of the countries that have the highest rates of this in the world are in the Pacific. So I think Fijian Vanuatu was recently identified as in the top five countries of the world. It has a huge impact on the quality of life for people. It's actually caused by a mite, a little insect that actually burrows into the skin. And actually, these burrows cause an inflammatory and allergic response and intense itching. So people that get these infections with scabies mites have a huge impact on their life because they're constantly itching, this through the day and the night, and it's unrelenting. That's sort of the impact of it. And then they also are highly at risk of getting secondary bacterial infections, which can be either localised in those same areas because of all the scratching, or they can actually spread and cause bloodstream infections and septicemia, and even special infections of the heart called rheumatic heart disease. From seemingly innocuous little insect that lives on the skin and burrows in the skin, you've got this huge impact globally on health and just the way of life of people. So we think that's a really important issue to deal with. It's what we call a neglected tropical disease because most people in the world are not interested in really dealing with it or don't have the resources to look at this disease because it really occurs in areas of remote communities and low to middle income countries. The people that suffer the most are the poorest people in the world and often don't have the resources and access to health services. Despite being really common and having a huge impact on their life, not many people are helping to address this issue. Yeah, that's sort of part of the reason. And the other one is really that the diagnostics themselves are very poor. Generally speaking, the current approach to this is that healthcare professionals have a look at somebody's skin and they usually make their best guess of whether this is scabies or not. And in some cases, if they've got access to a laboratory or a microscope, they might send off some skin scrapings and try and identify this scabies insect under the microscope. So we think we can offer something to that. Melissa Maykin: Yeah, that's really another side of this whole issue. So what you talked about having secondary illnesses as a result of the scabies, are you able just to explain quickly what happens in the body due to that infection and the kind of secondary issues that can arise? Associate Professor Jack Richards: Yeah, sure. Matt, do you want to? Matthew Paxman: Yeah. So part of the issue with scabies is you get these tiny little skin lesions and also through all the extra scratching, your skin's inflamed. So you can get bacterial infections through the skin from that. So particularly group A strep and staphylococcus aureus, these two bacteria that can grow and cause infections on the skin. So that potentially could cause more severe types of skin lesions, but sometimes they can go deeper into the tissue, into the bloodstream and cause some severe complications like rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, Jack said before. And you get issues such as sepsis and toxic shock, but these conditions are potentially life threatening. So it's really important to control scabies to make sure these bacterias are getting through. The skin needs to stay intact to keep these bacteria that is sometimes commensally on the skin outside of your internal system. Melissa Maykin: Mm. No, thank you for that. It's really good to keep it at layman's level for not just myself, but for anyone who's really not too aware of the kind of health science behind scabies. But I was always of the belief that scabies was contracted from animals. So what carries scabies? Where does it mostly spread from? Matthew Paxman: So animals are affected by scabies as well, but humans won't generally get scabies from an animal. Scabies transmits through skin to skin contact with another infested person. And sometimes the scabies can actually survive on materials like the bed sheets or fabrics. So you need to have your skin exposed to a fertilized mite to contract scabies from another human. So that's why overcrowding is a major risk factor for this disease. Not necessarily hygiene, it's just that close skin to skin contact that causes these high level of transmission in overcrowded regions. Melissa Maykin: Thank you. So just jumping forward to the diagnostic test, are you able to just explain how this tool works? Matthew Paxman: Yeah, so we're looking at molecular diagnostics. So the difference with molecular diagnostics compared to the current diagnostic methods for scabies is we're trying to detect the genetic material of the mites or the particles that they leave behind on the body. So the previous methods, as we mentioned, involves trying to look at the skin and see evidence of mites or eggs. But with the molecular test, it would be a standardized sampling method. Essentially what we're doing is we're adopting the LAMP technique, which is a nucleic acid amplification system called loop-mediated isothermal amplification. So in concept, it's similar to PCR, but it tends to be faster and more specific. And the big benefit of LAMP is you can run it at one single temperature. So that means the instruments that it can run on can be simpler, more portable, and able to be implemented into these resource limited settings that we're really interested in. So that's what we're doing at the moment is we're designing the LAMP assay. So all the constituents that go into it. And then another important aspect is we're trying to design a simplified sample preparation workflow that so any untrained users, healthcare workers, will be able to easily process and run the tests. Melissa Maykin: Yeah, fantastic. I can't really visualize it at the moment, but what does it look like? Yeah, if you're standing in the lab, you're about to run some tests on the scabies. Matthew Paxman: I can, I have some things right next to me. This might not be that relevant for radio, but this is instruments. So at Zip Diagnostics, we have a point of care diagnostic platform called the P2. So it's this instrument here. It's got a touchscreen that provides all the prompts to do the steps. And essentially, our tests are these little lyophilized cartridges. So that's got the LAMP assay in there. And you're going to be able to process the sample on this deck and set up the test and run it within this little light, small, portable instrument. This is a platform approved by the TGA. So we can use it for clinical purposes here in Australia and can probably talk about elsewhere. Yeah, Associate Professor Jack Richards: and Matt's raised some really important points there. Where this disease occurs is in these remote settings in most cases, and they can be really far away from laboratory services. And so it's really important that we take the test to the people that have it. And what Matt's showing us here is a test, which is small, it's very portable, can run off a battery. And it really makes use of the best technology that we've got in the world to detect the DNA of these organisms. So it's a highly sensitive test. And yeah, and it's got to be highly usable for the people that are going to operate this in these environments. And so it's got to be a simple test to run. And it's also got to have components to the test which don't require cold chain supply. So it's no good being in these environments where there's no refrigeration or freezing access. So we have these freeze dried components to the assay which allow it to be then deployed and stored out in those environments. You're ABC: listening to Pacific Pulse on ABC Radio Australia. Melissa Maykin: On the show today, you're hearing from Dr. Jack Richards from Zip Diagnostics and PhD researcher and research assistant, Matthew Paxman. We're talking about a groundbreaking new SCABES test. In 2022, Solomon Islands became the first country to distribute ivermectin to its entire population to tackle SCABES, a disease that affects one in four people there and is linked to serious infections like blood poisoning and kidney disease. The ABC's Jordan Fennell had this report. Prianka Srinivasan ABC: Solomon Islands has become the first country in the world to have the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin distributed to its entire population to treat SCABES. The drug attracted controversy during the pandemic after it was linked to coronavirus misinformation. But as Jordan Fennell reports, health experts are optimistic about the success of the rollout. Jordan Fennell: In a clinic in Honiara, patients are furiously scratching themselves. Oliver Sokana: SCABES is quite distemping in any way we try to describe it. But they will spend time in itching and scratching the body and try to get themselves to feel comfortable. It's really distemping. Jordan Fennell: Oliver Sakana from the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health is overseeing the rollout of ivermectin to treat SCABES. He estimates they're helping more than 200 people a day. Oliver Sokana: That means we already treated more than 5,000 people in provinces that they already started. Jordan Fennell: In a country with a population of more than 680,000 people, one in four suffer from the skin disease. But relief from the pain will come quickly. Just two doses of ivermectin over the space of a week will get rid of SCABES. Sarah Anderson: Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug and SCABES is a parasite. And so the ivermectin works to actually kill the little SCABE mite that has dug under the skin and made its home in somebody's skin. Sarah Jordan Fennell: Anderson is the Murdoch Children's Research Institute's World SCABES Program Manager. She says it's not just a disease that makes you itchy. If left untreated, it can lead to serious consequences. Sarah Anderson: So it can lead to very serious skin infections. As kids start scratching the SCABES, the skin breaks and then infection can get into the skin. And then that has been shown to be able to lead to very serious bacterial skin infections, but also to blood infections. And there's also a connection to kidney disease and heart disease. Jordan Fennell: During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ivermectin became a controversial drug when former US President Donald Trump urged people to use it to treat coronavirus, but doctors were advising against it. Ms Anderson says while it might not be effective to deal with COVID, for years it has worked to treat antiparasitic diseases like SCABES. Sarah Anderson: Ivermectin for the use of SCABES and other parasites has long been researched and shown to be effective in very, very good trials. Jordan Fennell: She says this distribution project in Solomon Islands is the result of more than 10 years of research and aims to give everyone in the country a treatment of ivermectin to stop the transmission over the next few months. Oliver Sukarna says his team of thousands are working hard to deliver the medicine. We Oliver Sokana: have the evidence. We have the evidence that SCABES is really a public health problem in Solomon Islands. So this MDA rollout is very significant in the control of SCABES in this country. Jordan Fennell: A similar rollout will go ahead in Fiji in September, and if they're able to get more funding, Ms Anderson hopes to take the life-changing treatment to more Pacific countries. Sarah Anderson: SCABES tends to be kind of like the disease that doesn't get a lot of attention. It definitely is an area where we would love to see more people joining this sort of mission to get rid of SCABES. Melissa Maykin: And that's what we're talking about today. That was Sarah Anderson, Murdoch Children's Research Institute World SCABES Program Manager, ending that report by Jordan Fennell for Pacific Beat. But a new diagnostic tool to detect SCABES early is in the works and could be a game changer for Pacific nations and their communities. Here's Zip Diagnostics Associate Professor Jack Richards. Associate Professor Jack Richards: So it's not as simple as just making a widget that just gets thrown at people. What we really want to do is work with communities and work with local experts and stakeholders just to really understand the setting and the need that they've got and the capability that they've got. We want to design this to be a test that's really suitable for them in those environments. So we're just beginning that process now. We're working with a great team up at Menzies who do a lot of work with First Nations communities up in the top end of Australia and beginning to liaise with people across the Pacific. We've done lots of work with PNG in the past and Fiji and Vanuatu. And so we're going to really continue that work to make sure that this test is actually designed and is appropriate for use in those settings. And I think a diagnosis does several things. One is, at the moment, you've got this situation between a patient and a healthcare professional where both of them are trying to make their best guess. Is this scabies or is it something else? Is it a mosquito bite or is it an allergic reaction eczema or something like that? And it creates a really difficult dynamic in the clinical decision making process because there's uncertainty. So one of the aspects of bringing a test like this in is we want data driven clinical decision making and that's a process that occurs between the patient and the healthcare professional. So the patient gets better data and is a participant in a point of care setting of their own clinical management and having access to data that confirms the diagnosis really provides them an incentive to get on with treatment and to complete treatment. And that's actually really important and it's particularly important for scabies. The treatment usually takes the form of a cream, as you mentioned, and that cream is an anti insecticide sort of cream that's applied usually from the neck down to the feet. So it's actually quite a tricky one to apply. Melissa Maykin: It is, yeah. Associate Professor Jack Richards: It's not that fun. You've got to douse yourself literally from head to toe in this cream and usually sit it out for overnight generally and then get up in the morning and wash it all off again. That's the most common form of treatment and usually you've got to back that up with a second round of that treatment one to two weeks later. There is a form of treatment that you can use, which is a tablet, but that's not always available in some of these settings. That's a little bit easier to administer, but it again also requires a sort of follow up dose. So you can see for both of these, having knowledge that this is the disease that you've got and therefore the need to do this sort of treatment because it is laborious can actually really help with doing that treatment course properly. Melissa Maykin: Yeah. Save a lot of people's time and resources going straight to what they know is needed to be done. And yeah, my friend did have to douse herself in the cream. The most tedious part was when she missed a spot and then the scabies didn't go away. So she had to just keep doing it on repeat until she hits. It took months. I was really shocked by how difficult it was for her to get rid of it. And I guess there's also that social stigma too, of feeling quite dirty and quite infested with a disease. There's layers to the feeling of contracting something like that. This I'm sure is going to make a big difference for people to get on top of it really quickly. But maybe Matt, if you can answer this, what other types of common skin infections has this also helped detect? Matthew Paxman: So for our test, we're also going to be designing targets that will detect the two main bacterial infections that often go along with scabies. So that's group A strep and Staph aureus. These are bacteria that commonly are pathogenic to humans, but sometimes they just live on the skin and not cause issues. But then with the scabies, you get the lesions and they can enter your system and cause some severe diseases. So it will be the same sample. So you will only have to take samples or inspect the patient once. A lot of the other diagnostic methods sometimes overlook bacterial infections because if your patient comes in and they're complaining about severe itching, they might not be looking for bacterial infections. So it's really important to be able to diagnose those because they require a different treatment than scabies. So in scabies, you'll need antimicrobial sort of medicines or creams in that case. Melissa Maykin: And a little side to this, I was talking to Dr. Mark Jacobs, World Health Organization, maybe last year about the rise of antimicrobial resistance. It's especially an issue, I guess, in the region, in the Pacific, where antibiotics is scarce. The right antibiotics isn't often administered. Are you working around antibiotics in this way? And is this something that you have to be aware of? Associate Professor Jack Richards: Yeah, it's a really important issue and it's becoming increasingly problematic globally. And it's driven by lots of different factors. But one of the factors is, as you're saying, the lack of diagnostics to really guide, do we need antibiotics in this instance or not? Are we making the right decision to give this patient antibiotics? And more particularly, are we giving the right antibiotics when we do that? And obviously, the best information we can have is, yes, there's this infection here and it is susceptible to this particular antibiotic. So we've even chosen the right antibiotic for this particular bug. So they're the sort of aspirations that we have. And part of that will be part of this test as we develop it. Melissa Maykin: Yeah, great. What happens next now that you've developed this test? Where are things at for you guys? Associate Professor Jack Richards: It's still under development. So it's in the early phases of the development. So Matt is doing the design of that at the moment and making good progress. So we're about to start doing some initial clinical studies with the collaborators that we've got at the Menzies in Darwin so that we can really start to understand if this test is working properly. And then we, as an Australian company, the first Australian company to ever get a point of care molecular test approved by the TGA. So we're going to use all of those learnings and that effort that we put into making this test in Australia. So we're really proud of being able to do that and have Australian made products like this that hopefully are globally important products. And so, yeah, keep people up to date over the next year or two as this goes through the formal clinical studies and the regulatory approval processes. It's a fair journey, obviously, to get these things into use for humans. Melissa Maykin: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Matt, was there anything, did you have any comment about how you guys are tracking? Matthew Paxman: Not too much extra than what Jack said. Melissa Maykin: Yeah, that's okay. I just might ask you, Matthew, because this is a PhD area of yours, if I can ask, I guess what fascinates you most about this area? I think you contribute hugely to communities that are very much in need. But yeah, you're able to share just finally a little bit about what drives your motivation in this area of research. Matthew Paxman: So my original study, I was trained as like a biochemist and working at Zip Diagnostics, I've got involved with looking at infectious diseases and different pathogens. And that's really fascinated me. And one area that I was excited about was having a look at different bacterial infections. And then I was pretty naive to scabies before this project started, which makes sense. It's a neglected disease. People in these remote communities know about it, but in other areas, it's not very widely discussed. So it was really interesting, a really interesting disease and really important with this like hidden, massive global prevalence. So I thought it was really important. And I also very much appreciate how important these issues are to regions such as like Indigenous Australian populations and other sort of low middle income areas like the Pacific Islands and certain areas in Africa. So that really fascinates me. Melissa Maykin: A really big thank you to Associate Professor Jack Richards, the Scientific Director of Zip Diagnostics and Research Assistant and PhD candidate Matthew Paxman for their time on the show today. This has been Pacific Pulse with me, Melissa Makin. If you missed any part of this episode and you'd like to listen back, you can search for us on the ABC Pacific website at Pacific Pulse or find us on your favorite streaming platform. If you'd like to hear more conversations about health care in the Pacific, consider listening to the latest episode of PoliTalk with Scott Widear. Basic medications like paracetamol and antibiotics are very hard to come by in many Pacific countries at the moment, and this is leaving doctors and patients struggling under the strain of sickness. You can find them by searching for PoliTalk, P-O-L-I-T-O-K on the ABC Pacific website. This episode was produced on the lands of the Jagera and the Turrbal people.
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
When I broke out in an agonising rash that left me bleeding docs blamed scabies – but 3 common foods were to blame
I COULDN'T sleep, I couldn't concentrate at work and I was cancelling social plans. I felt like my body was covered in ants due to a persistent itch - but I was completely unaware of a little-known allergy to foods in my daily diet. 6 6 It was January 2022 when I suddenly developed the most frustrating itchiness all over my body; one moment it was my head, the next it was my leg. This wasn't just a little tickle. It was persistent and impossible to ignore. And when I did ignore it, the itchiness would grow and grow. A specialist mentioned that it might be scabies and so for several days, I lathered the cream on and washed my bedsheets every morning. I did two rounds of scabies treatments, but still the itchiness persisted. On a trip to Austria in March 2022, I broke down in tears as my incessant scratching was causing my skin to bleed. It took a (very expensive!) trip to an Austrian dermatologist to discover I had urticaria (the medical term for hives). My body was covered in these hives. And I was then told it caused by a histamine intolerance. Ever wondered why you don't quite feel right after eating certain foods such as cheese or chocolate? Or, feel as though your skin is itchier than normal after drinking red wine? Megan McKenna blasted the Prime Minister today for 'abandoning' a vow to create an 'allergies tsar' Perhaps yoghurt, beer and champagne - which are fermented foods - have left you bloated and struggling with digestive issues, despite the fact you've always eaten them? Or, like me, you have never even connected the dots. Histamine tolerance can also cause a runny nose, brain fog and fatigue. "It can even impact mental health, with reported symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia and panic attacks," says Dr Mohamed Najja from Jorja Healthcare Group. Some foods act as histamine liberators, meaning they trigger the body to release more histamine, even if they don't contain much themselves. Laura Southern nutritional therapist at London Gynaecology The little-known problem primarily impacts women and tends to occur more frequently with age, often in the 40s and 50s but anytime from the age of 30. 'Histamines are chemicals that your immune system makes," explains Dr Najja. "They are released by white blood cells during an immune response, helping to respond to allergy triggers (such as pollen or certain foods)." 6 6 6 Histamine intolerance, he says, refers to an excess of histamine in the body. The body struggles to process or eliminate excess histamine. It can lead to a range of symptoms that may mimic allergies. But while allergies involve your immune system response, releasing histamines to get rid of whatever it sees as a threat (even if it's harmless), histamine intolerance, in contrast, is a problem with the body's ability to process histamine. "When histamine is released then the blood flow to the area increases, causing inflammation such as redness, swelling and itchiness," he says. The symptoms of histamine intolerance Symptoms of histamine intolerance can vary from one person to another. However, Dr Najjar says that common symptoms include: Abdominal pain and bloating Changes of bowel movement, which could include diarrhoea, nausea, gas and reflux. Skin rashes, flushing or hives Headaches Dizziness Fatigue Brain fog Runny nose or nasal congestion Shortness of breath or wheezing Heart palpiations Mental health effects A 2019 study in the journal Intestinal Research found participants suffering from histamine intolerance experienced an average of 11 symptoms. What foods trigger symptoms or antihistamine intolerance? When I got dianogsed, I had to laugh at the fact I was consuming foods and drinks daily that trigger histamine intolerance daily. At the time, I was shotting apple cider vinegar in the morning, drinking a fair bit of champagne and was eating spinach, tomatoes and chocolate every day. High histamine foods include aged cheeses such as parmesan and blue cheese and cured or smoked meats, such as salami and smoked salmon. Fermented foods such as soy sauce and miso also don't help. Aged, fermented and processed foods contain high levels of histamine because histamine forms during bacterial fermentation or food decay. Alcohol, especially red wine, champagne and beer, pickled or canned foods, beans and pulses, salty snacks and chocolate are all no-gos. 6 Laura Southern, nutritional therapist at London Gynaecology says: 'Some foods also act as histamine liberators, meaning they trigger the body to release more histamine, even if they don't contain much themselves." The list of histamine liberators are often 'healthy' foods. They include vinegar, tomatoes, citrus fruits, spinach, strawberries, and nuts, especially walnuts, cashews and peanuts. 'Some foods block DAO, the enzyme that breaks histamine down," says Laura. "These include energy drinks, black and green tea and alcohol.' Laura adds: 'Histamine levels in food can vary based on storage time and processing. 'Histamine is often a 'gut' problem, so foods that damage the lining of the gut, or support the 'bad' bacteria in your gut can cause histamine reactions or make them worse. "These foods are UPFs, sugar, fried foods, processed meats, alcohol and sweeteners.' Hormones, particularly oestrogen, play a big role in the development of histamine intolerance, according to Tara Ghosh, a certified Hormone and Women's Health Coach. Therefore, she says, a lot of women may notice that menopause and perimenopause can make histamine issues worse. 'Having too much oestrogen in relation to progesterone leads to something called oestrogen dominance which can cause our allergies to be way worse or indeed appear out of nowhere for the first time," she says. Generally, oestrogen is on a downward slope during perimenopause, but with unpredictable peaks. 'While oestrogen is on a rollercoaster as we age, progesterone plummets,' Tara says. Tara explains that oestrogen increases histamine and is linked to slowing down the production of the DAO enzyme which clears histamine from our body. As well as hormones, some medications and gastrointestinal issues such as irritable bowel disorder can actually get in the way of DAO working properly. How to treat histamine intolerance The NHS doesn't offer a histamine intolerance test, but you can buy them online. However, Dr Najjar advises against doing them without the support and expertise of a qualified medical practitioner. You may take antihistamines when your body is reacting to histamines - and, after being put on strong ones, I was given a long list of foods that I had to remove from my diet. Although you can take antihistamines, Tara claims: 'Most antihistamine treatments are just a band-aid, blocking your histamine receptors. 'What we need to think is, 'why is my allergy bucket so full and causing me this hell?' 'Reduce dairy, gluten, sugar and alcohol as these are inflammatory and limit fermented food (such as kombucha and sauerkraut), avocados, spinach, tomatoes, chocolate and citrus fruit as these stimulate histamine.' Tara adds: 'High levels of the stress hormone cortisol correlate with high histamine so find ways to calm your nervous system every day and prioritise your sleep. "A high dose vitamin C supplement can also break down histamine.' A process of eliminating potential histamine-rich trigger foods and then slowly reintroducing them, can help you discover where your tolerance lies. In a matter of days, my skin calmed. The itching ceased and I felt like a free woman! Still to this day, I am strict on what I eat and if I know I'll be drinking champagne or wine, or eating smoked salmon or anything fermented, I will take an antihistamine to prepare myself. My histamine intolerance dictates what I eat and drink and every day I have to stop and think before I put anything in my mouth. Honestly, the itchiness isn't worth it. So what can you eat? Laura says that low-histamine staples include fresh meat and poultry (not processed or leftover), freshly cooked fish and eggs (especially the yolks). Gluten-free grains like rice and quinoa, most fresh vegetables (like courgette, carrots and broccoli) and leafy greens (except spinach) are all okay. 'Vitamin C and B6 are crucial for DAO activity," says Laura. "I often suggest foods such as parsley, fresh greens, peppers, blueberries, chicken, turkey and sunflower seeds.' She adds: 'The gut plays a huge role in histamine regulation so I also encourage anti-inflammatory and gut-supportive foods such as freshly cooked root vegetables, herbs such as ginger, turmeric and thyme and omega-3-rich oils from flax or chia seeds." Laura adds that the freshness of your foods plays a part - even food that's been left in the fridge for a day could trigger symptoms.
