Monthly Archives: March 2018
Are Food Allergies Contagious?
What Are Food Allergies?
A food allergy occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly identifies certain foods as harmful. This overreaction can lead to a variety of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. Unlike many other health conditions, food allergies can develop at any age, including adulthood. Food allergies are NOT contagious conditions, but an persons symptoms and reactions can affect people around them.
Are Food Allergies Contagious?
No, food allergies are not contagious in the traditional sense. Unlike infectious diseases that spread from person to person, food allergies are not caused by germs or viruses. They are a result of an overactive immune system reacting to specific foods. While it’s possible for someone to develop a food allergy after a blood transfusion or organ donation, this is a rare occurrence and does not involve direct person-to-person transmission.
How Do Food Allergies Work?
Normally, the immune system protects the body by identifying and attacking foreign substances. However, in individuals with food allergies, this response becomes hyperactive, triggering allergic reactions to specific foods. These reactions can be mediated by IgE antibodies or non-IgE mechanisms.
Common Food Allergies
IgE-mediated allergies
These are often diagnosed in children and infants and are commonly caused by milk, eggs, and wheat. Symptoms can affect the skin, gut, eyes, and mouth.
Non-IgE-mediated allergies
These can also cause allergic reactions but do not involve IgE antibodies.
Symptoms of Food Allergies
- Abdominal pain, diarrhea, and nausea
- Edema, erythema on the skin, and hives
- Swelling of the lips and throat
- Fatigue, dizziness, and bloody sputum
Transmission of Food Allergies
While food allergies are not contagious in the traditional sense, they can sometimes be transmitted through blood transfusions or organ donations. However, the risk of this happening is low, and the transmitted allergic reactions often subside over time.
Liver Transplantation and Food Allergies
Individuals who undergo liver transplantation may develop food allergies, especially children. These allergies are more common in the early stages of transplantation but tend to decrease in severity over time.
Allergic Proctocolitis
Allergic proctocolitis is a condition that primarily affects infants and can be caused by breastfeeding. Symptoms include watery, mucus-filled stool, blood-streaked stool, fussiness, and anemia. Mothers can often help alleviate these symptoms by avoiding certain foods in their diet.
Preventing Food Allergies
While it’s not always possible to prevent food allergies, certain measures can be taken to reduce the risk, especially in infants and young children. Breastfeeding, introducing new foods gradually, and consulting with a healthcare professional can be helpful.
If you suspect you or someone you know has a food allergy, it’s important to consult with a healthcare professional or experienced allergist for diagnosis and management.
Allergy, Asthma and Sinusitis P.C
Boyan Hadjiev, MD
30 East 40th Street
Suite 1200
New York, NY 10016
212-319-5282
Call our offices at 212-319-5282 to schedule an appointment with the best allergist in New York City.
The Most Evident Signs That You Are Allergic to Something
What is an Allergy?
Allergies take place when your immune system reacts to a substance that is particularly not harmful to the body. These substances are called allergens, and they mainly include foods, pet dander, or pollen. The job of your immune system is to fight against harmful diseases and keep your body healthy. The immune system attacks everything, which results in reactions and leads to allergies.
The best thing about your immune system is that it adjusts to your environment. For instance, if the body runs into something like pet dander, it immediately realizes that this is harmful. Therefore, in this case, the immune system fights it to save your body from attack. Today, Allergies are prevalent, and several treatments are there to aid you in troubleshooting these.
Common Symptoms of Allergies
Different Allergic conditions have numerous symptoms. Therefore, here are some of the symptoms you will come across:
Inflammation of the Eyes and Nose
When your body is about to suffer from an allergy, you may experience inflammation of your nose. This causes a runny nose and excessive sneezing. This means that there was something that you were not able to tolerate in the environment. For example, there might be dust in the atmosphere which has made the body to react. In this case, you will only be able to cure yourself if you visit a doctor immediately, and ask for an anti-allergic. Similarly, your eyes can also be inflamed, which could result in watery eyes, and you could feel itching in your eyes.
Rashes
Moreover, there might be cases where your body could react to any antibiotic or any other thing in the environment. In such cases, rashes can appear everywhere on your body. Any rashes caused by allergies are known as urticarial rashes or nettle rash. When this happens, you feel very itchy as it is annoying and unbearable. The worst case of rashes is that your skin turns all red.
Swelling
Your lips, throat, and tongue, etc. can swell if you get attacked by allergic disease. Usually, this also starts with an itchy feeling and can get worse. Sometimes, a perilous mouth disease, Angio-oedema takes place which can be a serious condition and can lead to airway obstruction. People might have issues while swallowing. Moreover, it is so dangerous that it can stop your breath and may lead to death.
Breathing
When some types of allergies are about to attack, people often experience breathing difficulties. These mainly include breathlessness, and chest tightness, etc. This is the case when you are about to get anaphylaxis, a severe type of allergy. This might be life-threatening.
Conclusion
If you go through an allergy, make sure you take proper care and are aware of what to do in different cases. Some of the most important signs are discussed above. Moreover, you can also experience tummy pain, vomiting, and nausea in case of an allergy. It is vital to treat yourself immediately to avoid bigger problems in future.
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