Implementation of Stock Epinephrine in Chartered Versus Unchartered Public-School Districts.

BACKGROUND: Access to unassigned epinephrine is critical for schools to treat anaphylaxis. Low socioeconomic status is associated with decreased access to epinephrine in the school setting. In and around New Orleans, physicians partner with schools to assist with stocking unassigned epinephrine autoinjectors (EAIs). New Orleans' decentralized public charter school district makes widespread adoption challenging. METHODS: Physicians partnered with New Orleans decentralized public charter schools, as well as neighboring centralized public school districts, to perform training on recognizing and treating anaphylaxis, assist with the adoption of school policy for stock epinephrine, and aid with obtaining stock EIAs free-of-cost through the EpiPen4Schools® program. We used publicly available school enrollment data and our own calendar records to calculate how many children we covered with stock epinephrine per hour of physician or administrator time. RESULTS: For centralized school districts, we cover approximately 4000 children with stock epinephrine per hour of time. For the decentralized district of New Orleans, we estimate covering only 400 children with stock epinephrine per hour of time. CONCLUSION: Decentralized school districts reduce educational disparities, but require more time and energy to get EAIs in place than centralized school districts do.

Availability of stock epinephrine in schools is needed to address health disparities in anaphylaxis.

Significant health disparities exist in the diagnosis, prevalence, and management of anaphylaxis. This case acted as a community-level sentinel event for advocacy efforts to place stock epinephrine into schools throughout the greater New Orleans area.

Disaster differentially affects underserved communities.

Patients with barriers to care, including poverty and language barriers, often live in lower-cost, disaster-prone areas. Partnering with community clinics enables allergists to reach underserved patients.

Turmeric as a Possible Treatment for COVID-19-Induced Anosmia and Ageusia.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a calamitous perturbation of society worldwide. Anosmia and ageusia (or hyposmia and dysgeusia) have been recognized as two common expressions of COVID-19 infection that linger for days to weeks, and in rare cases are thought to be immutable. Time alone has hitherto proven most effective in their restoration, but turmeric, long believed by some to have medicinal properties, may be a swifter and surer alleviator of anosmia and ageusia. This case series reports the speedy and consequential restoration of taste and smell in two subjects infected with COVID-19 following ingestion of one 1000 mg dose of a turmeric supplement. In view of this, we propose that turmeric be considered in the treatment of anosmia and ageusia caused by COVID-19 infection.