English in a pill – Angielski w pigułce, Lesson 14

Allergy

An allergy is an adverse reaction to a protein in our environment, such as those found on pets, and in pollen or nuts. These proteins are called allergens and are normally harmless. In people with an allergy, the body reacts to a specific allergen by releasing histamine from the cells in the skin, lungs, nose or intestine. This causes inflammation and swelling. Symptoms can include itchy skin, tissue swelling and wheezing.

Common allergic diseases include hay fever, asthma and eczema. Some people get allergic conjunctivitis, while others react adversely to medication, insect stings or latex.

Allergens to be aware of:

• grass and tree pollens,
• dust mites (living in and feeding on house dust),
• food (cow's milk, hen eggs, wheat, soya, seafood, fruit and nuts),
• fungal or mould spores (in the bathroom and other damp areas),
• medication (penicillin, aspirin, anaesthetics),
• nickel, rubber, preservatives and hair dyes (skin contact allergens),
• pet skin flakes or dander (cat, dog, horse or hamster),
• wasp and bee stings.

There are a lot of factors which contribute to allergies. Some families have a predisposition to allergies, known as atopy. This has shown an epidemic rise over the past four decades.

There's growing evidence that our fight against infectious diseases and increased personal cleanliness may have interfered with the workings of our immune system. Global warming has also had an impact, with changing patterns of natural vegetation and more profuse pollen production.

Atopy in parents or siblings is a strong indicator of allergy risk. Allergies are likely to occur in atopic families where there's early childhood exposure to certain allergens.

Men are more likely to become allergic and an allergic mother who smokes puts a child at even greater risk. Statistically: children from non-allergic families have a 12 per cent risk of developing an allergy. If one parent has allergies, this risk increases to

20 per cent. If both parents have allergies, the risk is more than 40 per cent. If both parents have the same allergy (such as asthma, hay fever or eczema) the child has a 70 per cent risk of having the same allergy.

Other factors that may promote allergies include:

• birth by caesarian section,
• frequent courses of antibiotics,
• passive cigarette smoke inhalation,
• being overweight - obese children are more prone to asthma.

A number of factors reduce your risk of developing allergies:

• being born into a family with no history of allergies,
• being breastfed exclusively for the first four months of life, with a mother who avoids egg, nuts and cow's milk while breastfeeding,
• early exposure to good probiotic bacteria in the infant diet,
• plenty of vitamins C and E, and omega-3 polyunsaturated oils.

WORDS

• Adverse - przeciwny
• Pollen - pyłek
• an intestine - jelito
• an inflammation - zapalenie
• a swelling - opuchlizna
• irchy - swędzący
• tissue - tkanka
• to wheeze - sapać
• hay feler - katar sienny
• eczema - egzema
• conjunctivitis - zapalenie spojówek
• mites - roztocza
• fungal - grzybiczy
• mould - pleśniowy
• spore - zarodnik
• a dye - farba
• dander - łupież zwierzęcy
• a wasp - osa
• profuse - obfity
• siblings - rodzeństwo
• exposure (to) - wystawienie na działanie
• a caesarian section - cesarskie cięcie
• obese - otyły
• prone (to) - podatny na coś
• an infant - niemowlę
• polyunsaturated - wielonienasycony

A joke

A sign was noticed in an allergist's office which showed a picture of a beautiful cat and a caption which said, "We got rid of the kids... the cat was allergic".

a caption - napis; to get rid of sth - pozbyć się czegoś

„Farmacja i Ja”, grudzień 2008