An allergy is a sensitivity to a certain substance which, in similar
quantity, is tolerated by non-allergic people.
The allergen is the specific protein substance that a person is allergic
to. The presence of this allergen in the body causes a series of
chemical reactions in the immune system which result in individual signs
& symptoms.
The tendency to be allergic is inherited; the actual allergy is not
inherited.
Our body's immune system helps
keep us healthy by producing disease-fighting antibodies. These antibodies
are capable of destroying harmful foreign substances like viruses and
bacteria that cause disease. In people with allergies, these antibodies
are overstimulated and react to normally harmless substances.
The air we breathe. The food we eat. The things we
touch. They can all trigger an allergic reaction. If your daughter is
horse-crazy, and horses make her break out in hives, she is probably willing
to live with the itching even though she might not have to. On the other
hand, if you are so allergic to the tiniest speck of peanut butter that
your throat swells shut within a few minutes, it is, to paraphrase Winston
Churchill, a situation up with which you cannot put.
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