The two most common types of allergy are food related and environment related exposures.
People who eat wheat flour products commonly suffer from allergy symptoms. Allergy problems may also result from the handling of wheat by farm workers and from contact with wheat flour, by mill and bakery workers. In the former case, it is thought that concentrations of grain dust and fungal spores may affect farm workers. A study of sixteen farmers in the United Kingdom revealed that one quarter of farm workers in dusty, grain storage areas suffered from asthma. Sensitization to wheat allergens usually occurred after several years although sometimes it took as long as ten to twelve years for allergy symptoms to develop. In the case of millers and bakers, it was found that reactions were due to a mite known as the 'flour mite'. Allergy to this mite causes severe skin reaction. Further reaction to flour causing itching as well as nasal and bronchial symptoms, and is thought to be due to the various chemicals added to the flour during the milling process to whiten and preserve it.
Allergies due to contact with work-related substances are plentiful. Over eight hundred substances have been listed as contact allergens. They include rubber, dyes, paints, cosmetics, medicines, epoxy resins, chrome and nickel. In a study of workers, exposed to photolytic enzymes, in a Sydney soap factory, it was found that some workers developed rashes and severe itching of the skin. Other symptoms such as itchy eyes, swollen runny nose and hay fever persisted. Some also developed a dry, hacking cough and others, asthma. Enzymes in the soap industry have long been known to cause allergies. As a result, protective measures have reduced the problem, but the fact remains that some people cannot work in that industry. Researchers at Sydney University have found that photolytic enzymes occurring naturally in grass thatch cause chronic lung disorders amongst New Guinea tribesmen.
Other forms of contact allergy are to be found constantly throughout commerce and industry. Allergies to printers' ink, coffee dust, platinum salts (used in the photographic industry) and pharmaceutical drugs are just some further examples of this wide-ranging problem.
The more a person becomes sensitized to an allergenic substance, the more likely he will continue to have allergy related symptoms to chronic exposure to the allergen. Therefore, the best approach for patients with severe allergy related symptoms is to identify the allergen as best as possible, and to avoid exposure to the allergen, although this is difficult in the case of the common allergens in our environment.
