"Allergy March"
Reference: Data from Saarinen et al., Lancet 1995; 346: 1065-1069 (1)
Symptoms of allergy vary in complexity, severity and organ manifestation. For the atopic person the effect of allergen exposure can be immediate, with eczema, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, bronchoconstriction, vomiting and diarrhea, and in rare cases anaphylaxis. The symptoms can be simple, such as itchy eyes, or complicated, as in asthma, rhinitis and urticaria. They can be mild or severe. Chronic reactivities can be seen as skin reactions (eczema) and in bronchial asthma an ongoing lung tissue inflammation can be the reason for an asthma attack seen after exposure to the offending allergen. Asthma attacks can also be brought about by other events than allergen-IgE reactions on the mast cell.
Manifestations of atopic disease vary considerably with the age of the child, as do the allergens involved. In infancy allergies to food, especially egg and milk, seem to be the most common. After the age of 3, most allergic children tolerate these foods, while allergy to inhalants becomes predominant. Specific IgE antibodies are often preceding the symptoms in childhood, but the clinical symptoms seem to catch up with time (2). The best approach for a physician to adopt is to investigate every symptom which could possibly be related to allergy and its cause.