Buy essay on DIAGNOSTICS AND IMMUNOTHERAPY IN ALLERGIC REACTION FOOD ALLERGIES

The disorder of immune system when there is an atypical reaction to normal substances in the environment is called allergy (or atopy) which is one of the 4 forms of hypersensitivity, immediate (type I) hypersensitivity (Alm et al 1999). Those substances calling allergic reactions are called allergens. When the stimulus works, white blood cells called basophills and mast cells are excessively produced by antibody of immunoglobulin E and the extreme inflammatory response begins. Hay fever, chicken-poxes, eczema, food allergy, attacks of asthma, and reactions to poison of caustic insects like wasps and bees are among the general allergic reactions.
A mild allergy like a hay fever is extraordinarily prevailing in human population and defiant symptoms such as allergic conjunctivitis, thirst, and snivel. The reactions affect many organs: it becomes difficult to breathe and smell (allergic rhinitis and sinusitis); eyes become red and itching (allergic conjunctivitis); one begins to sneeze and cough from laryngeal edema; ears can hurt too, feel full and hearing impairs (lack of Eustachian tube); rashes attack skin, and problems with gastrointestinal tract like bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting can happen as well. As it is widely covered in Frequency of infections and risk of asthma, atopy and airway hyperresponsiveness in children, an allergy can be the main factor in asthma, while the airways are narrowing (it is called bronchoconstriction) and mucus is excessively produced in the lungs, breath gets short (i.e. dyspnea), one begins to cough and wheeze. For some people, severe allergy to the environmental allergens, medications or dietary allergens can cause anaphylactic reaction and eventually result in death even (Von Mutius et al. 1999, p. 4). That is why it is so important to study this type of disorder, and search for remedies to prevent it and to make the patients fell easier, there is medical specialty allergology the tradition of which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In was then, in 1906 when pediatrician from Vienna Clemens von Pirquet introduced the concept of allergy. It is important to signify that firstly all types of hypersensitivity were regarded as allergies, and therefore they were all thought to be reasoned by an awkward activation of the immune system. Further it was discovered that there are different mechanisms involved (Matricardi 2007).
DIAGNOSIS
There is a great variety of tests to diagnose allergic terms now; they include checking of skin for answers to the known allergens or blood test for a incidence and ranks of allergen-specific IgE. Сure of allergies includes anti-histamines, cancellation of allergen, steroids, or other oral treatments. One of the most important ways out is immunotherapy. It is applied to decrease the sensitiveness of response to the allergen.
One of the most spread transporters of allergens is food. Allergic reaction to food is seen in bloating, abdominal pain, tearing, itching skin, diarrhea, and swelling of skin during chicken-poxes. Food allergies result in rhinitis and asthmatic, or respiratory reactions. The paper Deuthses Arzteblatt International provides a range of such reactions (Figure 1).

Figure 1 (Illi et al. 1999)
It has been discovered that propensity for this or that kind of allergy depends on such factors as sex and race, background and age, and hereditary factor is considered to be the most involving (these are host factors).
In the study conducted by Laura B. Amsden, Julia A. Barnathan, Ruchi S. Gupta, Jane L. Holl Jennifer S. Kim, and Lakshmi S. Tummala, (Amsden 2008) food allergy is defined as an hostile immune response to specific products, usually proteins. Children have 8 products that cause 90% of food intolerances. Diagnosis is founded on medical reports, and can be sustained by tests, like skin prick examination of specific IgE and oral food tests. IgE-mediated food allergy can cause anaphylaxis and anaphylaxis have been shown to occur in 93% of food allergic children who go through an anaphylactic reaction. It is assumed that 150 Americans die each year because of food allergy, with most of her death among adolescents and young adults. At the moment, management of food allergy is primarily in the strict prevention of wrong food allergens together with the beginning of therapy with oral administration (Bollinger 2006).
PREVALENCE OF FOOD ALLERGY
A number of organizations including the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) as well as the local groups of parent support work in favor of enhancing the knowledge and awareness about food allergies at the national and local level (Ferrigno et al 2007). Nevertheless, previous studies have shown that malnutrition on the prevalence of allergy exists among the general population, and that the knowledge of physicians of food anaphylaxis caused by absent.
Furthermore, it was well recognized that families where children have food allergies have poorer quality of life. Food allergy has been shown reduce the overall perception of health, curb the activities of the family, and significant emotional and economic consequences for parents. Delayed diagnosis of doctors and the social stigma the public might be factors leading to further difficulties that in daily fear of life-threatening reaction are faced by parents of children who have food allergies.
Allergic diseases are rather ‘ancestral’. In the national survey of pediatricians provided by S. D. Krugman, D. R. Chiaramonte, and E. C. Matsui, it is proven by the following statistics: identical twins are by 70% likely to have the same allergy; non-identical twins are expected to have the equivalent allergic diseases occur by 40%. Moreover, if parents have allergy, children are very likely to be allergic too. And in case when the allergic disease is received from parents, children can have it even in more severe forms than when acquired (Chiaramonte et al 2006). “Some allergies, however, are not consistent along genealogies; parents who are allergic to peanuts may have children who are allergic to ragweed. It seems that the likelihood of developing allergies is inherited and related to an irregularity in the immune system, but the specific allergen is not,” (Krauth et al 2007). It means that there is no gen responsible for this or that abnormality, but parent’s disorders influence immune system of a child. This is also analyzed properly in Parental food allergy information needs: a qualitative study (Hu 2007).
Many researchers pay attention to the fact that small children have much higher allergic sensitivity, young children are generally at risk, that is why it becomes mainly a concern of pediatricians. Among works and surveys conducted on this matter are, for instance, The prevalence of food hypersensitivity in an unselected population of children and adults by M. Osterball, T. K. Hansen, C. G. Mortz, A. Host, and C. Bindslev-Jensen (Hansen 2005); Pediatric food allergy update by S. A. Bangash amd S. L. Bahna (Bahna 2005); Anaphylaxis: a 7-year follow-up survey of 46 children by R. Bernardini, A. Cianferoni, E. Lombardi, E. Novembre, N. Pucci, and A. Vierucci (Bernardini 2005); The impact of childhood food allergy on quality of life by S. H. Sicherer, S. A. Noone, and A. Munoz-Furlong (Munoz-Furlong 2001); The impact of food allergy on the daily activities of children and their families M. E. Bollinger, L. M. Dahlquist, K. Mudd, C. Sonntag, L. Dillinger, and K. McKenna (Bollinger 2006); Diagnosis and management of childhood food allergy by S. H. Sicherer; Prevalence of IgE-mediated food allergy among children with atopic dermatitis by P. A. Eigenmann, S. H. Sicherer, T. A. Borkowski, B. A. Cohen, and H. A. Sampson (); Dietary prevention of allergic diseases in infants and small children by R. Aalberse, S. H. Arshad, Av. A. Berg, K. H. Carlsen, K. Duschen, S. Dreborg, P. Eigenmann, S. Halken, D. Hill, A. Host, C. Jones, M. Mellon, A. Muraro, B. Niggemann, G. Oldeus, A. Oranje, C. Pascual, S. Prescott, H. Sampson, M. Svartengren, Y. Vandenplas, U. Wahn, J. A. Warner, J. O. Warner, M. Wickman, and R. S. Zeiger (Dreborg et al 2004); Effects of early nutritional interventions on the development of atopic disease in infants and children: the role of maternal dietary restriction, breastfeeding, timing of introduction of complementary foods, and hydrolyzed formulas by F. R. Greer, S. H. Sicherer, and A. W. Burks; Atopic versus infectious diseases in childhood: a question of balance? by P. G. Holt, P. D. Sly, B. Bjorksten; Atopy in children of families living with an anthroposophic lifestyle by J. Alm, G. Lilja, G. Pershagen, A. Scheynius, and J. Swartz; Prevalence of hay fever and allergic sensitization in farmer’s children and their peers living in the same rural community by C. Braun-Fahrlander, U. Neu, L Grize, M. Gassner, F. H. Sennhauser, and H. S. Varonier (Braun-Fahrlander et al 2009). In these studies the authors look for reasons and roots of child allergies, determine correlations between parent’s diagnoses and child’s health, explore impacts of childhood reactions on further living, confront biological, social and environmental factors and try to find solutions and treatments to cure allergies as well as media to prevent their acquirement.
Several studies (including Confirmation of the association between high levels of immunoglobulin E food sensitization and eczema in infancy: an international study by D. J. Hill, C. S. Hosking, F. M. de Benedictis, A. P. Oranje, T. L. Diepgen, and V. Bauchau; Validity of specific IgE antibodies in children with egg allergy T. Boyano Martinez, C. Garcia-Ara, J. M. Diaz-Pen, F. M. Munoz, G. Garcia Sanchez, and M. M. Esteban) have demonstrated that levels of IgE are highest in childhood and drop fast between 10 – 30 years. Hay fever is spread at highest level in children and young adults. The rate of asthma is at highest level in the age under 10 (Biselli 2004). What is more, gender makes sense too: it is claimed that higher risk of allergy occurrence is among boys than girls (Dreborg 2004). Still it would be wrong to take that fact as absolute truth, as much belongs on the type of allergy. For instance, asthma attacks more young females than males.
As for ethnicity, it is also a wide spread subject being studied as a factor. It may play a significant role in some allergies; still, racial factors are not easy to be separated from impacts of environment and migration influence. A group of scientists studied measles and atopy in Guinea-Bissau (Aaby et al 2006); another group concentrated on wheeze and asthma and relation to atopy in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia (Bekele et al 2007). It has been discovered that various genetic loci are connected with asthma, particularly and strong by far, in patients of European, Asian, Hispanic, and African origin.
In the article by W. Burks and B. K. Ballmer-Webe, Food allergy much attention is paid to the origin of disease, and it is shown that genetic factor can’t be decisive. The environmental factors to be taken to account are changes in exposure to infectious diseases during babyhood, ecological contamination, levels of allergens, and dietary alterations (Burks and Ballmer-Webe 2006).