Laura Poy Solano
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday February 12, 2023, p. 8
At least 20 percent of the world’s population suffers from some type of allergy, warns the World Health Organization (WHO). Pollen, dust mites, mold spores, animal dander, food, insect bites and medicines are among the main triggers for an illness that is not curable, but it is controllable.
Official data estimates that 40 percent of Mexicans suffer from some kind of allergy. Worldwide, asthma and allergic rhinitis are the most frequent reactions. The number of asthmatics worldwide exceeds 300 million people, of which 80 percent also have symptoms of rhinitis.
The Ministry of Health (Ssa) indicates that in our country allergy cases occur mainly in children, who, among other symptoms, suffer from sneezing, runny nose, difficulty breathing and hives. In autumn and winter, the dependency points out, allergy cases, even in adults, tend to rise to become one of the first causes of medical consultation.
Allergies, he indicates, are a response abnormal and exaggerated in the body’s defenses against things that normally should not harm or cause discomfort, and although they do not have an absolute inheritance pattern, there is a genetic predisposition called familial atopy
.
The Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi) explains that when the immune system detects these foreign substances, it tries to neutralize them with a series of physical reactions that secrete chemicals, such as histamines, which cause the symptoms of allergies: itching, sneezing, runny or stuffy nose.
Red, itchy, watery eyes can be a sign of conjunctivitis, and atopic dermatitis manifests as dry, extremely itchy skin. The most severe forms of allergy are characterized by swollen lips with respiratory distress, which in the most severe cases can compromise the airway and have to be managed in intensive care units.
alert.
In the face of manifestations of this condition, warns Insabi, you should go to an allergist so that, through a series of skin tests or blood tests, determine the causes of the discomfort and diagnose the type of allergy you suffer from.
