Immunology | Immune system| Immunity

A type of allergy

                   Data on frequency of care sought for the most common medical complaints in United States show that asthma and allergy together resulted in more than 28 million visits to the doctor in 1995.The importance of allergy as a public health problem is underscored by the fact that the annual number of doctor visits for hypertension,routine medical examinations,or normal pregnancy,are fewer than the number of visits allergic conditions.In fact,the most common reason for a visit to a hospitalemergency room is an asthma attack counting for one third of all visits.In addition to those treated in ER,there were about 160,000 hospitalisations for asthma in the past year,with an average stay of 3 to 4 days.
                    Although all ages and races are affected,deaths from asthma are 3.5 times more common among African-American children remain unknown,although some clues may have been uncovered by recent studies of genetic factors in allergic disease.
                    An increasingly serious health problem is food allergy,especially to peanuts and tree nuts.Approximately 3 million Americans are allergic to these foods and they are leading causes of fatal and near-fatal allergic(anaphylactic)reactions.While avoidance of these foods can prevent harmful consequences,the ubiquitous use  of peanut protein and other nut products in a variety of foods makes this very difficult for the allergic individual.
                    Anaphylaxis generally occurs within an hour of ingesting the food allergen and the most effective treatment is injection of drug epinephrine.Those prone to anaphylactic attacks often carry injectable epinephrine to be used in case of exposure.
                    In addition to the suffering and anxiety caused by inappropriate immune responses or allergies to environmental antigens,there is a staggering cost in terms of lost work time for those affected and for caregivers.These costs well justify the extensive efforts by basic and clinical immunologists and allergists to relieve the suffering caused by these disorders.