The most common summer allergies

We associate the summer with sunshine, beaches, relaxation and health. However, precautions must be taken to avoid the unpleasant allergies that occur at this time of the year, affecting both children and adults.

For this reason, the Spanish Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SEAIC) has published some recommendations to help ensure that this time of year is all about long days in the sun, refreshing dips at the beach or pool and leafing through that book you’ve been waiting to read all year.

Allergies

An allergy is a disorder of the immune system that triggers an inappropriate immune response to a substance called an allergen, which does not normally cause this reaction in most people. The first thing you should do is find out what you are allergic to and get treated so that you don’t suffer any reactions, and to take your medication with you if you leave the house. Nonetheless, there are certain types of allergies that you need to be aware of and you should keep an eye out for them during these summer months.

Skin allergies

Reactions can occur during the time of year when your skin is most exposed, whether due to sun creams, exposure to the sun, chlorine or brushing against a plant that can cause rashes.

So you should be cautious and if you use any type of cream, read the ingredients carefully in case you are allergic to any of them.

Dust allergies

If you decide to travel, pay close attention to where you are staying, whether it be on the beach or in the city. And also to its cleanliness, as a dust mite allergy can cause sneezing, hives, itchy red eyes and even asthma. An allergy shot will also help you to overcome the allergy if you are a sufferer.

Allergies to certain foods

Typical summer fruits like peaches or melons can trigger a lot of hypersensitivity in many people, especially those who also suffer from pollen allergies. It is important to carefully watch what you eat, because foods like nuts and shellfish that are found in some summer salads can trigger a strong reaction in sensitised people.

Pollen allergies

Pollen allergy is the best-known and most common allergy among people. Sufferers know that spring is going to be a difficult time for them. However, summer does not spare them from suffering an allergic reaction to pollen.

In the summer months, grass pollination is at its peak, especially in Aragon, Murcia and Castilla La Mancha.

Insect allergies

Whether we like it or not, we know that insect bites, and the associated allergic reactions among children and adults, increase in summer. The most frequently reported: mosquitoes, followed by wasps and bees. You can take precautions against them, such as not drinking sugary drinks outdoors, not wearing bright colours and not wearing perfume to avoid attracting them.

Preventive treatments

There are preventive methods for every type of allergy, which can help you to get to through the summer as well as possible, such as:

– A good preliminary diagnosis.

This is the first step in improving your quality of life, either through allergen avoidance or appropriate treatment. Similarly, it is beneficial to use well-characterised and standardised allergen extracts, enabling an accurate interpretation of the results to ensure a correct diagnosis.

– An allergy shot is the best-known treatment and it also provides the best results.

At Probelte Pharma we specialise in manufacturing immunotherapy treatments for allergies which are based on allergy shots, aka allergen-specific immunotherapy. This is an aetiological treatment for certain immunoglobulin-mediated diseases. It is a therapeutic procedure, in which an allergen extract is administered for a period of 3 to 5 years.

The treatment has two phases. The first phase of allergy immunotherapy treatment, called induction, involves administering increasing doses of the extract at regular intervals until the optimal dose is reached. The second and final phase is called maintenance treatment. In this phase, the vaccine is administered once a month, for a recommended period of 3 to 5 years. There are also alternatives for the needle-shy, as it can also be administered sublingually, in drops or a spray.

It has been widely demonstrated that allergy shots are the only treatment that targets the source of the disease itself and therefore provides a good chance of being cured.