Allergy

Definition: Allergy

Allergy

Noun

1. Hypersensitivity reaction to a particular allergen; symptoms can vary greatly in intensity.

Date "allergy" was first used: 1911. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Allergy

Domain	Definitions
Medicine	A state of hypersensitivity acquired by exposure to an allergen. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Allergy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

An allergy is an immune system response to something which is not directly dangerous to the body. The term was coined by Viennese paediatrician Baron Clemens von Pirquet in 1906, from the Greek words allos meaning changed or altered state and ergon meaning reaction or reactivity. He observed the exaggerated immune responses of some of his patients, and concluded that they were a response to outside allergens such as dust, pollen, or certain foods.

The most basic allergy symptoms are similar to those of a common cold - snuffling, itchy eyes, and sneezing. An allergy can also cause skin rashes, hives or weals such as contact dermatitis or eczema; these are often caused in reaction to medications.

Hay fever is one example of a very common minor allergy - large percentages of the population suffer from hayfever symptoms in response to airborne pollen. Asthmaticss are often allergic to dust mites.

Most allergies are minor annoyances, but they are not something to take lightly. An allergy can also be extremely life-threatening if it is severe, causing anaphylactic shock and a total shutdown of the airways, circulation and every function of the body.

Treatment

The only known fundamental treatment for allergy is hyposensibilization. Other medication, such as by antihistamines and cortisone, has the effect of reducing the symptoms.

Allergy causation

Recent research has shed some light on the mechanism by which many allergies operate, but this is by no means the whole story; some causative factors and allergenic pathways have yet to be explained. One common mechanism seems to be that insufficient stimulation of the immune system at certain critical points in the development of the body leads to a surfeit of "proto-immune" cells which have not been activated by the presence of genuine invasive pathogens to become true antibodies. Once past puberty, the immune system becomes "fixed", with the majority of activated antibodies established such that everyday pathogens provoke no response. However the unactivated ones remain, waiting for a unusual and potentially more serious invader. Minor irritants, or even the body's own waste products, can then trigger an antibody reaction in these cells which then incorrectly become primed to recognise these minor irritants as major invaders. A further exposure to these irritants then provoke a substantial and unwarranted immune response from the incorrectly programmed antibodies. It is the symptoms of this exaggerated response that is seen as the allergic reaction.

Many common allergies such as asthma have seen huge increases in the years since the second world war, and many studies appear to show a correlation between this and our increasingly affluent and therefore clean lifestyles in the west. This is supported by studies in less developed countries that do not enjoy western levels of cleanliness, and similarly do not show western levels of incidences of asthma and other allergies. During this same period, air quality, at one time considered the "obvious" cause of asthma, has shown a considerable improvement. This has lead some researchers to conclude that it is our "too clean" upbringing that is to blame for the lack of immune system stimulation in early childhood. Many children have a natural tendency, for example, to consume soil - a practice that often provokes an equally natural tendency in parents to stop them. However, it appears that this may have a valuable function in priming the immune system, and is one way to ensure that allergies are less likely to develop in later life.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Allergy."

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Synonym: Allergy

Synonym: allergic reaction (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Allergy

English words defined with "allergy": allergen, allergic, allergy diet, atopic allergy ♦ delayed allergy ♦ food allergy ♦ hypersensitised, hypersensitive, hypersensitivity reaction, hypersensitized ♦ immediate allergy ♦ reagin ♦ sensitised, sensitized, supersensitised, supersensitive, supersensitized. (references)

Specialty definitions using "allergy": allergenic property, allergenic protein, Allergy and Immunology, allergy specialis, antiallergic ♦ scratch-test ♦ vasomotor rhinitis. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Allergy" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses.

Frisian (allergy).

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Modern Usage: Allergy

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	You have a potentially fatal allergy to brazil nuts. (Spaced; writing credit: Simon Pegg; Jessica Stevenson)
Movie/TV Titles	Allergy (1970)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Allergy

Domain	Title
References	The 2003-2008 World Outlook for Cough, Cold, Allergy and Hay Fever Remedies (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Allergy (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Allergy & Clinical Immunology International (reference) Allergy (reference) Allergy And Asthma Proceedings - Spanish Ed (reference) Allergy And Environmental Health Association Of Canada Ottaw (reference) Annals Of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Dr. Wang's Self-Care Series Sinus Pain & Allergy Relief (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Solar Allergy [IMPORT] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Allergy

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Hypersensitivity rash due to penicillin, skin of arm. Allergy, allergic.Credit: CDC.		Severe hypersensitivity reaction due to penicillin, skin of face. Allergy, allergic.Credit: CDC.
	Emergency Treatment of Insect Sting Allergy.Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Vaccinia Virus: From Jenner to Genetic Engineering : A National Institutes of Health Lecture...Dr. Bernard Moss. / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Vaccinia Virus: From Jenner to Genetic Engineering : A National Institutes of Health Lecture...Dr. Bernard Moss. / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Family Conference on Asthma and Allergies : [also] Practical Applications of Allergy for Primary Care Physicians.Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Credit: National Library of Medicine.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Sounds Captioned with "Allergy".

Play	Caption
	Sneeze; sneezy; sneezing; head cold; allergy; allergies; hayfever.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Allergy

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		One of the most familiar is allergy. (references)
		Some people with allergy develop asthma. (references)
		Getting allergy shots is a long process. (references)
Economic History	Norway	Best prospects for U.S. suppliers are still drugs associated with the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gastric ulcers, asthma, allergy, depression, and pain relief. (references)
Travel	Bolivia	If you have a severe allergy to sulfa drugs, you may not be able to take Diamox. (references)
	Mexico	Air pollution is at its peak from November to April, during the dry season, and may aggravate allergy and cardiopulmonary problems. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Allergy

"Allergy" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.53% of the time. "Allergy" is used about 213 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.53%	212	20,813
Noun (proper)	0.47%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	213	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Allergy

Expressions using "allergy": Allergy and Immunology ♦ allergy diet ♦ allergy test ♦ allergy to work ♦ atopic allergy ♦ Benadryl Decongestant Allergy Tablet [OTC] ♦ delayed allergy ♦ food allergy ♦ immediate allergy ♦ Latex Allergy ♦ person suffering from an allergy ♦ Sinutab Sinus Allergy Maximum Strength [OTC] ♦ Sudafed Cold & Allergy Tablet [OTC] ♦ Triaminic Allergy Tablet [OTC]. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "allergy": allergy-exclusion, allergy-like, allergy-prone, allergy-screened, allergy-tested.
	Ending with "allergy": anti-allergy, snuff-allergy.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Allergy

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
allergy	4,444	air filter allergy	104
food allergy	744	eye allergy	102
allergy symptom	427	allergy treatment	98
dog allergy	422	asthma and allergy	98
latex allergy	364	food allergy network	92
peanut allergy	309	pollen allergy	87
cat allergy	297	gluten allergy	84
allergy medication	287	soy allergy	80
sun allergy	260	alcohol allergy	79
mold allergy	249	child allergy	79
skin allergy	226	egg allergy	75
wheat allergy	223	drug allergy	73
allergy medicine	216	allergy filter	67
allergy relief	209	yeast allergy	66
milk allergy	207	tomato allergy	66
pet allergy	161	allergy relief product	64
allergy shot	115	penicillin allergy	63
allergy product	114	allergy test	57
allergy testing	108	dust mite allergy	56
seasonal allergy	108	shellfish allergy	56
		symptom of food allergy	56
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Allergy

Language		Translations for "allergy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		allergie. (various references)

Albanian		alergji. (various references)

Arabic		‏حساسية (impressionability, sensibilities, sensibility, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentimentality, susceptibility, vulnerability). (various references)

Bulgarian		отвращение (abhorrence, abomination, antipathy, detestation, disgust, disrelish, distaste, execration, horror, loathing, nausea, odium, phobia, recoil, reluctance, repugnance, repulsion, revolt, scunner, sickener), алергия. (various references)

Chinese		过敏 (allergic). (various references)

Czech		alergie. (various references)

Danish		allergi. (various references)

Dutch		allergie. (various references)

Esperanto		alergio. (various references)

Farsi		حساسیت نسبت بچیزی . (various references)

Finnish		allergia. (various references)

French		allergie. (various references)

Frisian		allergy. (various references)

German		Allergie. (various references)

Greek		αλλεργία. (various references)

Hebrew		אלר�'י�". (various references)

Hungarian		allergia. (various references)

Icelandic		ofnæmi. (various references)

Indonesian		alergi (allergic), kepekaan (sensitivity). (various references)

Italian		allergia. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		アレカ椰子 (alexandrite, allegory, allegretto, allegro, allergen, alloc, allocate, allocation, aloe, aloha, aloha shirt, anchor, Anchorage, anchorman, ankh, anklet, areca palm, arrange, arrangement, arranger, arrow, hour, underground, underground money). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		アレルギー . (various references)

Manx		allerjee. (various references)

Pig Latin		allergyay

Portuguese		alergia (aversion). (various references)

Romanian		alergie. (various references)

Russian		аллергия (allergies, idiosyncrasy). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		alergija. (various references)

Spanish		alergia. (various references)

Swedish		allergi. (various references)

Turkish		antipati (antipathy, disaffection, dislike, repugnance, repulsion, repulsiveness), alerji, alerjí, aşırı duyarlılık (anaphylaxis, idiosyncrasy). (various references)

Ukranian		алергія. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Allergy

Language	Period	Translations
Greek	700 BCE-300 CE	allos. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Misspellings: Allergy

Misspellings
	"Allergy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Alberigo, alergy, alery, allargy, allegry, allegy, Allerdyce, allerg, allerge, allerggyy, allergo, Allfrey, allurgy, elergy, lergy, Malleray. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Allergy"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "allergy" (pronounced a"lerjē)
4	-l er j ē	metallurgy.
3	-er j ē	energy, lethargy, liturgy, synergy.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Allergy

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: gallery, largely, regally.
	Words within the letters "a-e-g-l-l-r-y"
	-1 letter: argyle, argyll, galley, rallye, really.
	-2 letters: agley, alley, argle, early, gally, gayer, glare, glary, gyral, lager, large, layer, leary, legal, rally, regal, relay, yager.
	-3 letters: aery, ager, agly, ally, aryl, earl, egal, eyra, gale, gall, gear, gley, gray, grey, gyre, leal, lear, lyre, rage, rale, real, rely, yare, year, yell.
	-4 letters: age, ale, all.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-g-l-l-r-y"
	+1 letter: allegory, gravelly.
	+2 letters: generally, laryngeal, regularly, villagery.
	+3 letters: gallerying, galleryite, germinally, gesturally, gracefully, gratefully, integrally, laryngeals, metallurgy, regionally.
	+4 letters: ballyragged, bullyragged, falteringly, gallerygoer, galleryites, generically, gracelessly, irregularly, legendarily, regardfully, revealingly, viceregally.
	+5 letters: clatteringly, extralegally, flatteringly, fragmentally, gallerygoers, geothermally, managerially, profligately, regardlessly, synergically, tetragonally, ungracefully, ungratefully, wallydraigle.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.