Eczema to blame for rise in multiple-allergy cases
Cases of multiple allergies are on the increase, and our over-determined scrubbing might be the cause.
Staff from specialist allergy clinics in Liverpool, Cambridge, Cardiff, Birmingham and London have confirmed a considerable rise in the number of patients suffering from multiple allergies as well as an increase in the severity of symptoms; with many allergies causing acute pain and even, in extreme cases, death.
Allergy overload
"We used to say that 15% of the population had an allergy of some sort, now the figure is nearer 40%,” commented Dr Jonathan North, a consultant immunologist in Birmingham, and went on to confirm that “the proportion of complex/multiple allergy cases is increasing." Dr North suggested that the wider range of foods which children are exposed to might be responsible, although this remains to be proven.
"The initial referral from the GP may go something like this: 'Please see this child who has recently had an allergic reaction to a peanut’…then when we do see the child, they are also found to have eczema, asthma and hay fever and often food allergies as well," remarked Chris Doyle, a senior nurse specialising in asthma and allergy at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
27 year-old Kirsty Speed is an example of such a case. Having had eczema as baby, she went on to develop a peanut allergy and asthma as a toddler, and an allergy to dogs when aged just four.
"The number of people with more severe allergies in increasing and if you have a severe allergy you are more likely to have multiple allergies," commented Dr Shuaib Nasser, a consultant in allergy for the Cambridge University NHS Trust.
Reasoning this increase in cases of multiple allergies, Dr Nasser suggests that the recently documented 40% rise in cases of eczema in the UK might be to blame. Eczema, whose increasing prevalence is attributed to our overuse of soaps and detergents which rob the skin of its natural nutrients, is being seen as a “gateway” which might in some instances facilitate the development of other allergies. Dr Nassar's theory propounds that broken skin as characteristic of the condition allows allergens to penetrate the body, prompting the immune system to react as it would to a foreign body: "It is my belief that nut allergy and most food allergies are often a result of the body becoming sensitised to them through the skin," said Dr Nasser.
