Allergic Reaction – An Expert Guide And Its Connection With Asthma

Diseases that result from the immune system’s failure to function properly range from herpes and

fungal infections to AIDS. Sometimes, the immune system turns on itself and damages the body in the same way that troops accidentally fire on their allies.

It attacks its own tissues as if they were foreign substances. This friendly fire is responsible for diabetes; the skin lightening disease, vitiligo; and some forms of anemia.

What about the allergic reaction? B cells make the allergy antibody immunoglobulin E, or IgE (pronounced as the letters i, g, e). IgE is normally produced in response to parasites, such as ringworm and liver fluke, so if you live in the developed world you will not normally have much of this antibody in your blood. However, if you live in a developing country, you may have high levels of IgE.

If you suffer from asthma or allergies you will have a high level of IgE in your blood because you have an oversensitive immune system which goes into action against substances that most people’s immune systems regard as harmless, such as a peanut or the droppings of the house dust mite. This is what is known as an allergic reaction and the substance that causes it is an allergen.

When the allergen, which may be dog hairs, pollen or dust mite droppings, enter the body, it is immediately but mistakenly identified by the immune system as foreign substance, so the immune system produces a flood of protective IgE antibodies.

These antibodies fix themselves by their stem on to special cells called mast cells, present in the skin, stomach lining, lungs and upper airways. The mast cells then release various chemicals, the main ones being histamine and leukotrienes, which are responsible for the allergic reaction.

Histamine causes the blood vessels to widen, fluids to leak from the tissues and the muscles to go into spasm. Histamines also attract other cells, which cause further damage and inflammation.