WHAT CAUSES AN ALLERGIC REACTION?
It results from a misdirected response by the immune system, the body’s defense against invasion by bacteria, viruses, and other organisms. During our lifetime, millions of foreign substances enter the human system, usually with no detrimental effects. Normally, the immune system produces various antibodies that kill or neutralize specific foreign invaders. When such a substance enters the body — whether it’s swallowed, inhaled, injected, or touched — specifically programmed antibodies attack and destroy it. In people with allergies, the immune system can’t tell the difference between dangerous and harmless substances. It attacks normally non-irritating substances — pollen, dust, animal dander, food and the like — by producing 5 types of special antibodies (which substances called immunoglobins). The one that triggers most allergic reactions is Immunoglobin E (IgE). Exposure plays an important role. You’re most likely to develop an allergy to a substance you’ve been exposed to in s
Overloading the immune system with too much allergy antibodies (IgE) can cause allergic reactions, or by a direct sensitivity to medications, fumes or perfumes. For example, pollen, molds and dust mites contain small foreign proteins, often referred to as allergens, which involves IgE antibodies. Whenever these allergens exist, the possibility for an allergic reaction to occur exists. Any substance, which is able to induce a person to make an allergy antibody type of immune reaction, is referred to as an allergen.
