Researchers at National Jewish Health and other institutions in the NIH-funded Atopic Dermatitis Vaccinia Network have found that eczema patients are at risk for serious viral infections. The findings, published in the The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology have also found that people that have eczema are more at risk for severe disease and are more likely to have food allergies and have a frequent history of staph infections.

According to these studies, the greater allergic disease and sensitization, as well as infection by other microbes, is a possible cause for the increased susceptibility to viral skin infections. An emerging type of eczema is bringing awareness to the importance of skin-barrier defects and a lack of antimicrobial proteins among eczema patients. The study done by the Atopic Dermatitis Vaccinia Network (ADVN) is considered the largest in the U.S and is also the first to report that these patients are more susceptible to staphylococcus and other infections of the skin and eye.

The ultimate aim of the ADVN researchers is to identify eczema patients who are at high risk for these infections and to gather clues about why they are at such risk by studying a large group of patients who had suffered eczema herpeticum, the herpes simplex viral skin infections.

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