• Question: why do people get allergies?

    Asked by mylittlebirdxox to Carla, Madgie, Nick, Vicky, Werner on 14 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Carla Turner

      Carla Turner answered on 14 Nov 2013:


      Allergies are reactions from your body to things which are normally harmless to people. There are some links to it being passed down in families genetically, but we are still unsure of what causes them.

    • Photo: Werner Muller

      Werner Muller answered on 14 Nov 2013:


      Allergy is one of two major type of immune responses. We usually use the allergy type of immune response to fight against most parasite infections. Nowadays we do not carry parasites as much as we used to do. In a way, the immune system is still using this type of immune response but to other antigens, like cat hair proteins of bee venom. We then make antibodies of the IgE class and if the protein comes into our body a second type, an allergic response is triggered on a special cell type called mast cell and this leads to the release of histamine and this causes the symptoms. Some people have the tendency to develop a stronger allergic response and one can see this is one would look for antibodies of the IgE type in the blood.

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