Includes References and Index

It has been a great pleasure to prepare and present this comprehensive resource
on allergy and asthma. Allergy and Asthma: The Basics to Best Practices is the
first comprehensive collection of up-to-date information on allergy and asthma
of Springer Nature’s Major Reference Works (MRW). In the last five years, a
lot has changed in the field of allergy and immunology, one of many reasons
that have made the timing of this collection a priority.
The present book consists of 41 chapters and is a collective effort of over 80
known experts in the field. From basic immunology to sublingual immunotherapy, this book covers a wide variety of topics useful to the practice of
allergy and immunology. The book also benefits from the expertise of two
well-known colleagues, Dennis Ledford, professor of medicine at the University of South Florida, and Tim Craig, professor at Penn State University, as
section editors. What makes this and other MRW publications unique is the
fact that each peer-reviewed chapter is published electronically prior to the
print; this makes the information available to the reader in a timely manner. To
show the viability of newly presented information, each chapter is periodically
updated to serve as an ongoing resource for new information.
The completion of this book would not have been possible without the
support of the editorial team at Springer Nature. I would like to express my
gratitude to Caitlin Prim who invited me to head this project and Andrew
Spencer, senior editor of MRW projects, Daniela Heller, and NithyaPriya
Renganathan. Finally, a special thanks to Richard Lancing, director clinical
medicine, who has supported my relationship with Springer and now Springer
Nature for my previous five books.