Word: allergens
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Other allergies abound, including one surprisingly associated with the aids epidemic: sensitivity to latex gloves, which are being worn in increasing numbers by health workers to guard against infection by the deadly virus. Latex, it seems, contains an allergen that can produce reactions as drastic as anaphylactic shock in allergy-prone people...
...microscopic insect that thrives by the millions wherever dust collects in a house. Living on sloughed-off flecks of human skin (dander) and other unappetizing protein, it leaves droppings that are about the size of pollen grains -- and just as easy to inhale. Mite dung, unfortunately, is an allergen that produces the familiar sneezing, coughing, itching symptoms in half of all people who have allergies...
Despite energetic research into the nature and mechanics of the allergic immune response, and some improvement in treatment, no easy, surefire cure is in sight. Without question, says Washington University's Wedner, "the very best way of curing an allergy is to take away the allergen. No one is allergic to something that isn't there." In a few cases, that prescription is simple. Sufferers can get rid of the cat, for example, or avoid obviously allergenic foods and switch to nonlatex (but more expensive) gloves...
...Jacquelynne Corey, an allergist at the University of Chicago, "the success rate is great, | around 90%." For dust mites, mold and animal dander, the results are more variable. But why the shots do -- and sometimes don't -- work remains a mystery. Medical researchers know, for instance, that administering the allergens directly into the bloodstream results in the production of immunoglobulin G, rather than IgE, antibodies. Does the presence of IgG block the IgE response? Or does the hair-of-the-dog procedure eventually desensitize key cells in the immune system to the offending allergen? No one knows...
Once asthma begins, it establishes a powerful feedback loop that may not even need an allergen to trigger an attack. General irritants such as cigarette smoke and urban smog can cause the already inflamed airways to constrict. "It is my opinion that parents or caregivers who smoke in the presence of a child are guilty of child abuse," says Dr. Allan Luskin of the Rush Medical Center in Illinois. "Smoke not only increases the risk of a child getting asthma in the first place, it makes asthma worse when it is there...