Urticaria is one of the most common diseases in dermatology and allergy. Unlike many other diseases, the ? eeting nature of the wheals makes ? rst diagnosis by both patients and phy- cians in many cases easy. However, this only refers to the ordinary wheals. The disease itself is highly complex in nature, with variety of clinical manifestations ranging from pinpoi- sized wheals to extensive angiodema. Complexity is also seen in the diversity of possible eliciting factors, the many different clinical subtypes and the therapeutic responsiveness. Only in recent years has a better understanding of the diversity in the different subtypes led to new classi? cations and new evidence-based guidelines for diagnostics and mana- ment of the disease. While mast cells are in the center of most urticaria reactions, it is now clearly understood that the responsible mediators are not only limited to histamines. The current book appears in a series of books by Springer. In 1986, the ? rst monograph was edited by Professor Henz née Chanewsky. Since then, two updates of the book have appeared in the German language with Professor Henz as ? rst editor and T. Zuberbier, J. Grabbe, and E. Monroe as the co-editors of the most recent English version, published in 1998. All these books have been written as a joint effort of Professor Henz together with her team at the Department of Dermatology at the Virchow Clinic, Humboldt University, Berlin.
About the Author:

Torsten Zuberbier is Professor at Charité Berlin and President of the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN). In addition, he is chairman of the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF). Prof. Zuberbier completed his clinical and scientific education in the field of dermatology at the Charité Virchow Klinikum and wrote his post-doctoral dissertation on the differentiation and function of human mast cells. In 2003, he was appointed Head of Allergy and Co-Director of the Department of Dermatology and Allergy at the Charité Berlin. Prof. Zuberbier's research focuses on urticaria since 1990, initiating systematic guidelines from 2000 onwards. Further research interest is, airways allergies, atopic eczema, food allergies and human mast cells. He has published more than 500 papers and is a member of numerous scientific bodies.

Clive Grattan, MA, MD, FRCP, is Consultant Dermatologist at St John's Institute of Dermatology, London. He has led the difficult urticaria clinic at St Thomas' Hospital for 15 years. He has had a clinical and research interest in urticaria since the 1980's, including original studies on chronic autoimmune urticaria pathogenesis and management. He was the first to describe the autologous serum skin test response in chronic idiopathic urticarial and was awarded a Doctorate of Medicine by Cambridge University for his thesis. First author of the first revisions of the British Association of Dermatology guidelines on urticarial, he currently undertakes clinical research in chronic urticaria and mastocytosis and teaches extensively, has written many contributions and spoken on these topics worldwide. He has been EiC of Clinical and Translational Allergy, journal of the EAACI, was chairman of the Dermatology section and a member of the Executive Committee member of the EAACI, President of the Dermatology section of the R.S. of Medicine and a council member of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He has had longstanding involvement with the regulatory aspects of medicine doing committee work for the UK Health Dept., the Medicines Regulatory Healthcare Authority, the European Medicines Agency and the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. Current clinical practice includes all aspects of adult Dermatology with a special interest in Cutaneous Allergy.

Marcus Maurer is Professor of Dermatology and Allergy at the Allergie-Centrum-Charité in Berlin, Germany. He trained in dermatology and allergology in Berlin and Mainz, and in experimental pathology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston from 1995 to 1998, prior to attaining his board certification for dermatology in 2000 and allergology in 2003. He has made numerous important contributions to our understanding of the role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory disorders as well as in protection from infections. His clinical emphasis is on urticaria, pruritus, and auto-inflammatory syndromes. M. Maurer is the author of over 390 publications in peer-reviewed journals including Nature and the NEJ of Medicine. Over several years, Prof. Maurer's team has established national reference centers for the investigation and treatment of urticaria, mastocytosis, hereditary angioedema, angioedema and other mast cell-driven diseases, and has conducted more than 30 randomized controlled trials (phase I through IV) since 2011.