What are allergies?
Pollen, house dust, pet hairs, nickel, latex and certain foods are examples of harmless substances that often cause an allergic reaction. Common allergies are hay fever, eczema, asthma and food allergies.
Allergies are an abnormal response by the immune system. Many people use the term allergy to describe any reactions by the body, but that is not strictly true - the immune system must be involved. Food intolerance is often mistaken for an allergy.
Some people develop minor skin reactions with redness, itching and swelling. Hay fever or asthma symptoms may appear and those with eczema may find that it flares up.
What causes it?
There is still a lot to learn but it seems allergies develop because of a mixture of inherited and environmental factors. Some people inherit a tendency to allergies because their body is more easily triggered into making the allergy antibody called IgE when they come into contact with common substances. These people are said to be atopic.
The way in which a person is first exposed to an allergen contributes to whether or not they will become allergic. The younger you are and the larger the amount of allergen you're exposed to, the greater the risk of becoming allergic to it. Factors such as pollution and cigarette smoke can increase the risk, while other factors such as frequent colds or exposure to dirt in early life may protect against allergy.
Who's affected?
The number of people with allergies is increasing. It's estimated that about one in four people worldwide has some kind of allergy. In the UK, up to 40 per cent of the population have an allergy.
Allergies tend to run in families. If a person has one allergy, such as hay fever, they're more likely to develop eczema or asthma. All children may develop allergies but atopic children are at greater risk.
Most people develop allergies in childhood. However, a growing number of adults are also developing them.
Symptoms
Symptoms depend on the nature of the allergic disease. In hay fever, for example, there's a stuffy nose and itchy eyes.
In serious allergic reactions, for example to peanuts or insect stings, the person's face and throat swells, their blood pressure drops and they find it difficult to breathe. This medical emergency is called anaphylaxis.
Other allergic conditions include asthma, eczema, food and medicine allergies, and angioedema.
How's it diagnosed and treated?
Once an allergy has developed, allergy triggers (or allergens) should be avoided. If it's not clear what's causing symptoms then it's usually necessary to undergo allergy testing. This is best done at a recognised, hospital-based allergy clinic.
The most common method of diagnosis is skin prick testing, which is quick, simple and cheap, and can test for several allergens at once. But it's less reliable in very young people, older people and for conditions such as eczema. Skin patch testing is useful in dermatitis, while radioallergosorbent blood tests are a good but expensive way to diagnose allergies.
Challenge tests, or provocation tests, may be useful to rule out an allergy. Some diagnostic tests, including hair analysis and leukocytotoxic tests aren't accepted as of any benefit by most of the medical profession.
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