Each month we publish a newsletter titled IAQ Website of the Month.  The excerpt below was originally published in the April 2010 newsletter.

As I sat down to write this newsletter, I unleashed an impressive string of 5 consecutive sneezes. We’re in the allergy season now, so this month I’m featuring a resource to help you better understand allergies and asthma.

Although they have an unfortunate acronym (AAAAI), the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has an impressive journal, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). Most of the articles and content from before 2009 are entirely free on the journal’s website. I recently downloaded over 70 articles from the site. My favorites include:

• Allergen avoidance in asthma: What do we do now?
• House dust mite allergen in US beds- Results from the first National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing
• Guide for interpreting reports from inspections/investigations of indoor mold
• The history of the finding of the house dust mite
• The importance of allergens in the development of asthma and the persistence of symptoms

AAAAI also recently published the “2010 Primer on Allergic and Immunologic Disease”. This free, online book includes 30 chapters that review the field’s current research and understanding. Most of the primer was above my head, but chapter 13 “Environmental and Occupational Allergies” is a great summary of what every IAQ professional should know about allergies and asthma. To access Chapter 13, click HERE.

To find articles, you can either type in search terms on the journal’s homepage, or browse the table of contents from previous issues. When you find an article you like from 2008 or prior, you can read the full text online or download a pdf file to your computer.

To visit this month’s featured website, click: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

To subscribe to this newsletter click the following link: IAQ Website of the Month.