MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Allergy is an excessive response given by the immune system to so-called allergens, external substances considered harmful. The most common allergens are pollens, animal dander and dust mites in the air, followed by allergies to food, insect bites, drugs and some substances such as latex and nickel. In terms of population effects, allergies rank high among chronic diseases. According to WHO data, between 10 percent and 40 percent of the population suffers from them, depending on the region and time of year. These are some of the issues discussed by Vincenzo Patella, director of the complex operating unit of internal medicine with a respiratory-immunological focus at the Salerno Health Authority, professor of allergology at the School of Specialization in Allergology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Naples Federico II and president of SIAAIC, the Italian Society of Allergology, Asthma and Immunology, interviewed by Marco Klinger, for Medicina Top, a TV format of the Italpress news agency: “The rise in allergies? It is often said that we are what we eat, but we are most of all what we breathe,” he began. “Unfortunately, today there are chemicals continuously emitted, even from our daily activities. Whether at home, at work, or outside, we are exposed to chemicals that enter our immune system. The substances in the air that have the characteristic of stimulating allergies we call allergens, such as mold, pollen,” he explained, “The cells of the lymphatic system get equipped to respond violently against this substance. Those who are allergic do not respond quickly.” In the United States it is estimated that 35 million people suffer from allergic symptoms due to airborne allergens. As for Italy, according to the latest projections, by 2030 35%-40% of the Italian population will suffer from allergic rhinitis, and the period of symptom manifestation will be increasingly longer due to climate change. “There is an old adage: there are no longer any half seasons. We have been able to change the seasons as well, plants now anticipate and delay pollen, now we have allergy sufferers both in February, earlier, and in autumn, later than in the past,” Patella emphasized, then going into detail. “Those who breathe do so both with their nose and with their bronchi. If the nasal mucosa is inflamed we will talk about rhinitis, if the eyes are also inflamed it is conjunctivitis, if it concerns the bronchi then it is asthma. Those who have rhinitis check that they have asthma and vice versa, I feel like saying.” And on allergy treatments, “If we talk about antihistamines, in the past it was true that they caused a lot of drowsiness, now the second-generation ones can be taken systemically or in topical products such as sprays,” he recalled, “We hear about personalized medicine, that vaccines are the right way for an allergic patient. If we know what substances the patient is allergic to, we can help them reduce their symptoms and reduce the number of medications with ad personam therapy.” Allergy may be a genetic factor, at the same time you can also try to prevent it: “There may be a family predisposition, which does not tell you, however, which allergen you will be sensitive to,” Patella pointed out. “Having an allergic parent, however, means that at 25 percent your child may be allergic, and then exposure to polluted places exposes you further. Prevention? It means avoiding continuous exposure to pollutants, but it is complicated now,” he added, “The most important tools are those that help us to make a good diagnosis and then to do precision therapy. And on future prospects, “In the coming years we have great hope, which is actually an alarm today: for example, we are learning to understand how the environment modifies our genome,” the professor concluded, “Right there will be new medicines that can treat the allergy sufferers of the future, which will be more and more.
– photo taken from Top Medicine video -(ITALPRESS).
