What Is Acute Urticaria?

Acute urticaria (AU) is a common clinical disease. It is an allergic skin disease characterized by pruritus, wind masses or angioedema. It is caused by the expansion of the skin and small blood vessels and increased permeability Localized edema response.

Basic Information

English name

acute urticaria

Visiting department

dermatology

Common locations

skin

Common causes

Caused by food, animal, plant, drug, infection, etc.

Common symptoms

Acute attack, itching, wind mass, swelling locally

Causes of acute urticaria

1. Food, animal and plant factors.

2. Drugs, such as penicillin, sulfa, tetriline, and serum vaccines, often cause urticaria through immune mechanisms. And aspirin, morphine, atropine, vitamin B1 and other drugs are histamine releasers, which can directly cause mast cells to release histamine and cause urticaria.

3. Infections, including viruses (such as hepatitis virus), bacteria (such as Staphylococcus aureus), fungi, and parasites (such as roundworms).

4. Physical factors, such as temperature changes, sunlight, friction, pressure, and movement, can cause it.

5. Certain autoimmune diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders and mental factors can also be caused.

Clinical manifestations of acute urticaria

Acute attacks, pruritus and wind masses of various sizes occur throughout the body. Wind masses can fuse with each other into large skin lesions or map-like damage. Lips can be swollen, or swelling of the pharyngeal area can cause edema of the throat, making breathing difficult or even suffocating. The skin lesions often subsided within hours, but one after another, new injuries continued to occur.

Fever can be associated with fever, asthma and dyspnea, abdominal pain or bloating, and diarrhea. Severe patients may have symptoms such as hypotension, dizziness, chest tightness, and very rarely occur in shock. Most patients have only wind masses and pruritus without other symptoms.

Acute urticaria treatment

1. Find out the cause and check the allergens to eliminate the main cause of the disease. When there is an infection, antibiotics must be applied and the suspected allergens and food should be stopped.

2. Antihistamines are the main drugs for the treatment of various urticaria and can control the symptoms of most patients. The first generation of antihistamines such as diphenhydramine and chlorpheniramine maleate have sedative effects, and easily pass the blood-brain barrier, prone to drowsiness, anticholinergic side effects, workers and drivers working at height, glaucoma, Patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia should be used with caution. Second-generation antihistamines such as loratadine and cetirizine do not easily penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are well tolerated. Vitamin C and calcium can also be used for acute urticaria.

For severe acute urticaria and laryngeal edema, more corticosteroids are used, and urticaria complicated by anaphylactic shock is even more necessary.