Desensitization therapy for allergy: theory and practice Essay

Allergies ar one of the most common complaints for which unhurrieds assay medical attention. They disrupt patients bes and john even make others uncomfortable. While symptomatic relief can be obtained with antihistamines and similar medications, most patients would rather live completely symptom free and thus they turn to desensitisation therapy. Here, I will explain the mechanism behind allergies and the different forms of desensitization therapies that are available today. An allergy is a hypersensitivity reaction by the immune system of rules that occurs to certain antigens for which the body perceives as a threat and has an overreaction to. Patients generally throw inflammation of the airways, among other symptoms caused by the inappropriate release of histamine. The purpose of desensitization therapy in the allergic patient is to induce valuation account to the allergens that cause the patient to have symptoms.1 Several methods of desensitization therapy exist, th e more prominent being subcutaneous injections and sublingual administration, and the less popular methods of intralymphatic and transcutaneous immunotherapy.2 Before desensitization can begin, however, it has to be determined what the patient is in fact allergic to. This is through by using purified antigen from the suspected allergen and doing either a trim scrutiny or a blood test. In the skin test, the suspected allergen is scratched into the skin and is positive when a wheal develops.3 In the blood test, the patients blood is mixed with the allergen in order to observe the presence of antibodiesspecifically IgE. Therapy can only begin when the appropriate allergen is determined because the immunotherapy is allergen specific. Allergens work by inducing a Type 1 ... ...lege of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. Aug 200697(2)126-137 quiz 137-140, 202.12.Ohashi Y, Nakai Y, Murata K. Effect of pretreatment with fexofenadine on the safety of immunotherapy in patients with aller gic rhinitis. Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology official outcome of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. Apr 200696(4)600-605.13.Larsen JN, Houghton CG, Vega ML, Lowenstein H. Manufacturing and standardizing allergen extracts in Europe. Clinical allergy and immunology. 200821283-301.14.Moingeon P, Mascarell L. Induction of tolerance via the sublingual route mechanisms and applications. Clinical & developmental immunology. 20122012623474.15.Iglesias-Cadarso A, Hernandez-Weigand P. Risk factors for systemic reactions to allergen immunotherapy. authoritative opinion in allergy and clinical immunology. Dec 201111(6)579-585.