What can we do?!!!

It's not a secret that allergic disease is common in highly developed countries in North America and Europe and less banal in Third World countries. This suggests that there must be something about modern, urban activity that promotes allergy. And the further humanity develops the more it suffers form its own doings.

An allergy refers to an exaggerated reaction by our immune system in response to bodily contact with certain foreign substances. It is exaggerated because these foreign substances are normally seen by the body as harmless and no response happens in non-allergic people. Allergic people's bodies recognize the foreign stuff and some part of the immune system is turned on. Allergy-producing substances are called "allergens." Examples of allergens include pollens, dust mite, molds, danders, and foods. When an allergen comes in contact with the body, it causes the immune system to develop an allergic reaction in persons who are allergic to it.

When you inappropriately react to allergens that are usually harmless to other people, you are having an allergic reaction and can be referred to as allergic or atopic. Therefore, people who are lying down to allergies are said to be allergic or "atopic."

Austrian pediatrician Clemens Pirquet (1874-1929) was the first to use the term allergy. He referred to both immunity that was beneficial and to the harmful hypersensitivity as "allergy." The word allergy is taken from the Greek words "allos," idea changed or changed and "ergos," meaning work or action. Allergy roughly refers to an "altered reaction." At first, word allergy was used to describe the adverse reactions of children who were given repeated shots of horse serum to fight infection. Then, the term allergy was proposed to explain this unexpected "changed reactivity."

Nowadays it is estimated that about 50 million North Americans are affected by allergic conditions. The cost of allergies in the United States is more than $10 billion dollars a year. Allergic rhinitis (nasal allergies) affects about 35 million Americans, 6 million of whom are children. Asthma affects 15 million Americans, 5 million of whom are children. The number of cases of asthma has doubled over the last 20 years.

What possibly can be done to reduce the probability of having allergy of asthma? What is importent to know. First of all remember that the most important indoor pollutant is tobacco smoke, which is strongly connected with allergic sensitization, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses. Exposure to smoke results in the body's enhanced ability to produce IgE (the allergy antibody) that attaches to allergens (e.g. pollen, dust mites and dander). The IgE response is a key trigger of allergic reactions. What is more parental smoking increases the risk of their children having many respiratory illnesses, including bronchitis, chronic cough, and asthma. One last thing to mention is that smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding results in a higher risk for the children to develop allergic eczema (atopic dermatitis).