DR. SCHMIDT EXPLAINS DIE WELT: Why do people have hay fever?

Hay fever is currently plaguing many people in Germany. Why is everyone around me sneezing?

Hay fever is one of many allergies. It is called hay fever because one of the common variants is rampant at the time when grass is blooming or the first hay is being cut. So in spring and early summer. Then pollen from all kinds of plants fly through the air.

But why does my wife’s nose keep running and not mine?

This could be genetic. If members of a family have had any allergies, the probability that they themselves will suffer from them is around 60 percent. Genetic studies have now shown that some protein molecules that play a role in the immune system are slightly changed in allergy sufferers. And if there is enough irritation, this apparently leads to actually harmless substances from the environment being fought by the immune system as a supposedly dangerous infection.

But that’s just annoying and not dangerous, right?

It depends. With certain allergies, the reaction to the allergen can be so severe that an allergic or anaphylactic shock occurs. If help doesn’t come immediately, you could die. The peanut allergy has already made it into a cinema thriller.

Why do pollen allergies manifest themselves through sneezing and swollen eyes and not through, say, pimples on the skin or diarrhea?

We have different areas where the immune system usually has to be active. These include, at the forefront, the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. Since they are a gateway for infections, it makes sense if a corresponding immune reaction takes place there. A messenger substance called histamine is then released in large quantities, which in turn causes other cells to improve blood circulation and produce more mucus. The result is the familiar snot. The same thing can happen in a similar form on the conjunctiva in the eye. The result is then itching.

What can an allergy sufferer do?

In principle, a person affected can always treat the symptoms of the allergy, for example by taking antihistamines, which block histamine in the body. Histamine triggers this avalanche of immune reactions. However, these medications often have the disadvantage that they make you tired. But you can also take so-called immunomodulating substances. But this usually has problematic side effects.

I also once heard of therapy for allergy sufferers who were intentionally given the allergen. A robber’s gun?

No, no, these therapies really exist. This is a somewhat lengthy method, a kind of vaccination.

What exactly is happening?

During this treatment, the allergen to which you react strongly is either injected at intervals in slightly increasing doses or placed under your tongue using a tablet. This ideally happens at a time when the allergen used does not play a role in nature. This can eliminate the specific allergy, but should definitely be done by an experienced allergist.