Environment and Health: A Test on Allergy - Fact or Myth?

Environment and Health:  A Test on Allergy 

- Fact or Myth? 

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love." AVR

Allergy to green mussel or tahong is common
specially during Rede Tide. Allergy may be
mistaken for symptoms of Red Tide poisoning.

Don't smell the flowers, you may be allergic to pollen.
More so if the flowers have been sprayed with insecticide,
a common practice in flower farms.

Pollen grains, 50x magnification. Note germinating
pollen grains, a process pollen tube extends to reach
the ovule and effect fertilization. The pollen tube is
the culprit to pollen allergy.

Here are some cases often referred to doctors regarding allergy. Just answer fact or myth to each of the following cases.

1. Children who grow up on the farm are at much lower risk to allergy than children in the city.

2. Infants on the farm have fewer allergies than those who grow up in sterile environments.

3. Children who grow up with a cat in the house are less likely to develop allergies or asthma.

4. Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love.

5. Children who have been breastfed are less likely to have allergies.

6. Milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanut, fish and meat comprise the most common food allergies.

7. Most reactions to food are not allergic in nature, but rather intolerance, that is, there is no allergic antibody involved.

8. Babies exposed late to cereal grains have higher risk to cereal allergy, especially wheat.

9. Regular use of “foreign” materials (e.g. nail polish remover, contact lens, metals) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to the products.

10. Allergy can induce strong and unwelcome mental and emotional reactions, such as altered perception or inappropriate changes of mood.


Part of paper presented before the *Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Lecture, 11th Biennial Convention of the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel, Roxas Blvd, Pasay City. Published in Ad Veritatem, graduate School Research Journal, University of Santo Tomas