It was a Sunday morning when I woke up after hearing the sound of a baby crying. I rushed to my neighbor’s home and my guess was right. It was my neighbor’s son. His face was swollen and turned into red. I asked my neighbor what the problem was and got to know that the child was allergic to egg and that his elder sister fed him an egg by mistake. I was scared to see him like this. I took him to the doctor accompanied by his parents. The doctor said there was nothing to worry since it could be cured with only a few medicines. An Allergy is caused by a substance called allergen which the body releases while the reaction occurs. An Allergy is basically a hypersensitivity disorder in the immune system. Mild allergies such as a runny nose, red eyes, itchiness, hay fever are very commonly found in people. The excessive activation of certain white blood cells causes distinctive allergic reactions. A small dust allergy can also turn into asthma. Allergies can also be caused due to the poison of stinging insects like bees, ants, wasps, etc. To diagnose an allergic condition one can go through a variety of tests that exist. The use of medications like decongestants reduces the symptoms of allergy. But allergies can best be treated by avoiding allergens and using medications like antihistamines that prevent allergic reactions in the body. The concept of the allergy was founded by Viennese pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906. He discovered his patients to be highly sensitive to harmless substances such as certain foods, pollen and dust. To coin the word he took idea from two ancient Greek words, allos which means ‘other’ and ergon means ‘work’. Almost all the forms of hypersensitivity are called allergies. Later, Philip Gell and Robin Coombs designed a new classification scheme which described hypersensitivity reactions of four types known as Type I to Type IV hypersensitivity in 1963. After this new discovery, allergy was restricted to Type I hypersensitivity. In 1960s Kimishige Ishizaka isolated and described immunoglobulin E (IgE). Antagonist drugs such as glucocorticoids, cromolyn sodium, antihistamines, epinephrine (adrenaline) and theophylline are used to stop the action of allergic mediators. FDA has approved some anti-leukotrienes like or Zafirlukast (Accolate) and Montelukast (Singulair) for the treatment of allergic diseases. Other compounds like mast cell stabilizers, anti-cholinergics, and decongestants are normally used to impair eosinophil chemotaxis. These medicines can cure the symptoms of allergy and are very important in the recovery of acute anaphylaxis but does not really help in chronic treatment of allergy. My neighbors were relaxed after their son’s condition improved with medicines. The doctor said there was nothing to worry as allergies are common among people. He gave them ideas on how to help their child avoid allergies. A food chart was provided to them in which names of the food items were mentioned that should not be consumed by the child. Allergies do not degrade the conditions of a human being so rapidly but that is no reason for it to be taken so lightly because it may turn into a dangerous disease. This article has been written and posted by the team of BookMyDoctor.Com- BMD is a portal that provides free of cost consultancy to patients for fast and easy online appointments with doctors. Patients can locate Allergist in Dwarka or Immunologist in Dwarka from the authentic list of doctors and hospitals and can book appointments to the hospitals of their choice online only. Patients can also search for Allergists in Dwarka according to their choice.
Related Articles -
allergist, in, Dwarkaimmunologist, in, Dwarkaallergists, in, Dwarka,
|