The Bee’s Sneeze: Why allergies are getting worse

Allergies have been documented in historical records dating as far back as 2,400 years ago, when Hippocrates wrote about “hostile humors” in some people who suffered badly after eating cheese. But why do we experience them to begin with? What even is an allergy? Are allergies on the rise? And why are some mere nuisances, while others are deadly?

This episode is a roundup of allergy stories—from the mundane to the frightful—and a round up of allergy questions we’re asking Dr. Theresa MacPhail, author of Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, to answer for us.

Featuring Beni Osei Duker, Theresa MacPhail, Dwayne Smith, and Lily Ko.

Produced by Felix Poon. For a transcript and full list of credits, go to outsideinradio.org.

Correction: An earlier version of this episode suggested that bee pollen and local honey could only be effective as a form of immunotherapy at the site of the allergy, i.e. in your nose. In fact, immunotherapy is commonly administered as a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection to treat nasal allergy symptoms. A more relevant reason why they don’t work as immunotherapy is that hay fever is caused primarily by wind-carried pollens rather than insect-carried pollens that bees gather, among other reasons.

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LINKS

Check out Theresa MacPhail’s book, Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.

Read up on the different hypotheses on why we get allergies in the first place:

The parasite hypothesisThe toxin hypothesisThe hygiene hypothesisThe old friends hypothesis Learn about the history of the EpiPen.