Allergies may be on rise

Adults who appear to suddenly develop allergies were probably always allergic. They just weren't exposed to the allergens that now make them miserable. Or they hadn't reached their "tipping point."

"It's uncommon to see an adult who never had a problem, at age 40 develop something," says Dr. Charles Rogers of Allergy Associates of Utah.

It's more likely, he says, that they had mild or no symptoms when they were younger or they simply don't remember. "What makes them hit that critical threshold is unknown. . . . As a child, they probably would have tested positive (for an allergy) . . . even though they were not clinically bothered. What makes that bullet in the gun fire is not known."

But Rogers and other experts agree that several factors contribute to what at least appears to be an increase in allergies and, some claim, their severity.

We have cultivated areas with plants that were not there before. It used to be that people with severe allergies were told to go to Arizona, says Carol Maw, a spokeswoman for Intermountain Allergy and Asthma. But over time, they took their favorite flowers and grasses. So the pollens that trigger seasonal allergic reactions went along for the ride.

"We literally made the desert bloom," says Rogers. "That's why when we take virgin land and develop it for houses, buildings, whatnot, we create an environment that lends itself to weeds and plants that now grow where they didn't."

Doctors are also diagnosing allergies more often, which may contribute to the idea incidence is growing. "Maybe we're unmasking what was always there," Rogers says.

Dr. Alan F. Bitner, of the Salt Lake Intermountain Allergy and Asthma Clinic, says people are generally born with the genetic tendency to certain allergies. But he sees patients who don't remember having the kind of allergy symptoms they have now. Most with that genetic tendency have some symptoms when they're younger.

As children with allergies mature, the number of allergic adults is going to go up, especially since some of them will see more severe symptoms or develop symptoms for the first time. In babies with allergies, it may show up as eczema. And children don't pay as much attention to runny noses.

Speculation is also growing that while previous generations of children were free to play in the dirt, climb trees and get childhood illnesses, we now do our best to isolate them from harm. Their immune systems don't get as much opportunity to work out. We try to keep the environment sterile and we use antibiotics and vaccines to keep children from getting sick.