‘Allergy pandemic’ on rise, expert immunologist says

ANKARA

With allergies becoming more prevalent than ever before, this risk will continue as we move away from natural life, spawning a new "allergy pandemic" in the 21st century, a scientist has said.

Professor Dr. Ümit Murat Şahiner, an immunologist from Hacettepe University, said that he follows around 3,000 patients and that the number of allergy specialists did not exceed 50-60 until 10-15 years ago, but in recent years this number has approached 300.

The scientist explained the recent allergies by saying, "There is an allergy pandemic for the 21st century."

"We don't know why it is increasing, but the more we move away from our natural environment, the more this situation finds us. We know that it is less common in Africa and in underdeveloped parts of the world. The more we industrialize, the more we adopt a western-style life, the more this situation will become insurmountable," he added.

The expert stated that a physician should be consulted as soon as a symptom is seen, and that the future of the allergy field lies in the tolerance of the immune system and vaccination.

"In the past, when we saw a patient with food allergy, we used to call the assistants and show them. Now we see 5-10 cases of food allergy a day. Since specialists are assigned in metropolitan areas, more complicated cases are referred to us, but the characteristics of the diseases have changed. Asthma has become more severe, more severe patients have started to come,” Şahiner added that allergies are becoming more severe in children.

Underlining that a physician should be consulted as soon as a symptom is observed, Şahiner said, "Parents are very conscious, which is lucky for us. Every answer we find brings more questions. The future of the field lies in immune system tolerance and vaccination."