Holistic Health Show

A recent study published in the Annals of Allergy. Asthma & Immunology reported that year round allergies to dogs, cats, and dust mites seem to pre-prime the immune system so that symptoms appear earlier or are more severe when confronted by rag weed. In the study researchers wanted to determine why some individuals develop symptoms during ragweed season earlier than others. Testing several perennial allergens they found that being allergic to dogs, cats or dust mites set those suffers up for a quicker onset of hay fever symptoms when exposed to ragweed. In the study 123 people were allergic to ragweed and of these 66% were positive for cat allergies, 63% were allergic to dog allergies and 73% were allergic to dust mites. All were exposed to ragweed for 3 hours and completed symptom questionnaires every 30 minutes during exposure. In general, those who tested positive for dog, cat, and dust mite allergies developed symptoms either faster or to a greater degree than those who tested negative to these. This difference seemed to disappear after 3 hours so that once the hay fever season is in full swing, the differences between the two groups no longer existed. It was suggested that to avoid the overload at the beginning of the hay fever season, sufferers with perennial allergies (dog,cat, dust) should avoid them beforehand or treat their perennial allergy symptoms before hay fever season.