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Below are details of the most common allergies and here is some practical advice that should help you avoid the most common allergen.

The bulk of allergic disease occurs in childhood, with asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema and food allergy comprising a significant percentage of the workload of doctors dealing with children in primary care and hospital paediatric departments. In a large UK survey, 20% of children were reported to have had asthma in the previous year, 18% had allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (hay fever) and 16% had eczema. This represents a massive increase in prevalence compared with similar studies in the 1970 s where prevalence rates were 3 fold lower. Of these children, 47% had at least two co-existing conditions e.g. asthma and eczema. Read more...

What is asthma?

Asthma is a condition that causes swelling and inflammation inside the airways of the lungs. This inflammation and swelling is there to a greater or lesser degree all the time in people with asthma. The more inflammation there is the harder it becomes to breathe. People with asthma also have over-sensitive airways, so their airways react to triggers that do not affect other people. When sufferers come into contact with something that irritates their airways (a trigger), it can cause their airways to narrow. Read more...

Eczema is a pattern of itchy skin rash consisting of tiny pink bumps that may join together producing ill-defined pink or red patches. There are many types of eczema - some have known causes. Dermatitis is the term used for eczema reactions that are caused by external agents/factors. Atopic eczema is often referred to as "infantile" of childhood eczema because that is when it usually develops. Atopic eczema is usually associated with allergies (hayfever or asthma) in either the affected individuals or in their close relatives. Read more...

Prescription drugs have been through a rigorous process of testing to ensure safety, despite this, a minority of individuals will develop side-effects. Side-effects are termed "adverse drug reactions" by doctors and although the majority of adverse drug reactions are relatively minor and may even allow continuation with the drug, in some cases more severe symptoms can occur. Read more...

If someone reacts to food, they may have a Food Hypersensitivity (FHS). FHS reactions involving the immune system are known as food allergy (FA), all other reactions are classified as food intolerances (FI). Read more...

Rhinitis means inflammation of the lining of the nose Rhinitis is defined clinically as symptoms of runny nose itching, sneezing and nasal blockage (congestion). Common causes of rhinitis are allergies which may be seasonal ('hayfever') or occur all-year-round (examples include allergy to house dust mite, cats, dogs and moulds). Infections which may be acute or chronic represent another common cause. Rhinitis (whether due to allergic or other causes) is a risk factor for the development of asthma. Rhinitis is also implicated in otitis media with effusion and in sinusitis which should rightly be termed rhinosinusitis since sinus inflammation almost always involves the nasal passages as well. Read more...

The allergic process can affect the skin producing 2 main types of rashes namely urticaria (hives, nettle rash, welts) or eczema (see atopic dermatitis section).

Urticaria is a red itchy bumpy rash that is often short-lived and can appear in various shapes and sizes anywhere on the body. It is very common affecting 1 in 5 of the population at some time in their lives. In some people urticaria is accompanied by large dramatic swellings commonly affecting lips, eyelids, tongue and hand called angioedema. Read more...

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Below are details of the most common allergies and here is some practical advice that should help you avoid the most common allergen. The bulk of allergic disease occurs in childhood, with asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema and food allergy comprising a significant percentage of the workload of doctors dealing with children in primary care and hospital paediatric departments.