Françoise Ceccato, paediatrician
Atopia: “tools, which are very easy to put in practice” 
Françoise Ceccato is a private paediatrician in a group practice near Bordeaux and a paediatrician at the Children’s Hospital in Bordeaux within the framework of the CRCM (French cystic fibrosis research centre).
What is the Scholar in Allergy?
The Scholar in Allergy aims to promote a national protocol for the treatment of atopia thanks to a trans-disciplinary approach. This project is promoted by Pr Carlo Gelmetti, specialised in this pathology and based in an important clinical and research centre, with 170,000 consultations and 47 scientific publications in 2007, the dermatological clinic in Milan. The Scholar in Allergy has been developed in collaboration with the Italian federation of paediatricians and, of course, the Mustela Foundation. Within this framework, Pr. Gelmetti’s team has designed a book on child hygiene, which includes a full chapter on this subject, an interactive CD and an educational calendar.
What did you learn in practical terms?
Pr. Gelmetti presented notions and tools, which are very easy to put into practice in our everyday work. Thus, the temperature of the skin varies between 32 and 36°C and should be washed, for comfort, with water at the same temperature. It is moreover advised to apply cream without rubbing, gently after the bath, when the skin is gorged with water. Other practical notions concerned diet. Here are a few useful examples: ripe fruit is less allergenic that unripe fruit; acid tomato leads to immediate reactions on fragile skin; milk is the greatest inductor of acne; maternal breastfeeding is recommended up to the age of six months; allergies and irritations must not be confused… We also learnt certain statistical data taken from research studies. Thus, a child with eczema and an allergy to cow’s milk protein and/or egg has one out of two chances of developing asthma.
Apart for the treatment of atopia, what else did you learn during this trip?
I learnt a lot about the organisation of the Italian healthy system, structured centrally by the Ministry of Health, but with a strong dose of regionalisation. Thus, treatment or prevention programmes differ from region to region. Moreover, exchanges with Italian and French colleagues taking part in the trip – doctors, midwives, paediatric nurses – have enabled us to compare our practices and enrich one another’s experience.
