Allergy : the basic story
What is an allergy? Do you remember the last time you got rash all over your skin after eating a certain sea-food? It just means that you are allergic to that certain food. It is estimated that food allergy occurs in 1–2% of adults, and 8% of children 6 years of age or under. Of that group of children, however, only about 3% have clinicallyproven allergic reactions to foods.
Now food allergy is just one of many types of allergy. An allergy is an immunologically-mediated adverse reaction to a foreign substance, usually a protein. Allergic reactions can affect almost any tissue or organ in the body, with clinical manifestations depending on the target organ. People might have food allergy, insect allergy, drug allergy or event pollen allergy. Typical clinical manifestations of allergy include asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and urticaria/angioedema.
Photo by Nota
