Bernardo Sousa-Pinto, CINTESIS researcher and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, has just won the SPAIC – DIATER Award.

The award was presented during the 40th Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SPAIC), which took place on October 11-13 at the Palácio do Congresso of Algarve.

The prize, worth 5,000 euros, distinguished the work entitled “Frequency of serious reactions following penicillin challenge tests: a Bayesian meta-analysis”.

According to Bernardo Sousa-Pinto, it was found in this study that “in patients who report penicillin allergy, drug provocation test (administration of penicillins) is safe.” In fact, “severe reactions occur in only 0.2% of provocation tests”.

Besides Bernardo Sousa-Pinto, the study is also authored by other researchers, namely António Cardoso-Fernandes, David Afonso-João and Luís Filipe Azevedo, and had the scientific contributions of João Almeida Fonseca and Luís Delgado.

The prize is awarded every year at the SPAIC meeting aiming to recognize original research work in the field of drug allergy.

During this edition, two more prizes were awarded to works developed by CINTESIS researchers coordinated by João Fonseca (CINTESIS / MEDCIDS-FMUP): the 1st prize for best oral communication on Allergens / Asthma, in the scope of the INSPIRERS Project, and the SPAIC Scholarship–LETI, for the best work on allergen immunotherapy.