Frequency with Children

20-25% of children/youngsters suffer from allergies today. The most common allergens are pollen, mites, animal hair, food substances and insect poison. The exposure to cigarette smoke, number of siblings, atopic within the family, living conditions, complications at birth, medications and infections may trigger an allergy as well. In the first two years of life there is preponderance toward food related allergies and skin diseases, app. 30-50% of these children will later on probably suffer from asthma bronchial.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is sometimes more difficult than with adults. The anamnesis is of importance as well as the anamnesis of the family, considering the fact that there might be a connection between the cause and the illness (i.e. asthma after having contact with a cat). Also the type of the symptoms plays an important role: such as a sudden attack, periodical, seasonal or throughout the year, or place related. Maintaining an allergy calendar is often very helpful.
Subsequently the child undergoes a medical check-up. There are different allergy tests available. Sometimes there is no connection between a discomfort and an allergy. Also a positive allergy test is not necessarily proof of an existing allergy!

Read this report and interview which appeared in the German Newspaper „Die Presse“: Allergies

Therefore, parents should not hesitate introducing their children to an allergist when already suspecting allergies. He is the specialist for seeking the reason for the body’s overreacting. The visit to the specialist would be advisable already with toddlers.
As it is said: “An immune system which is “ripe enough” to react to allergies, also reacts to allergy tests! “
The allergy test most often applied is the “Skin-Prick test”. However, it makes sense only for children who can keep still and stand the disagreeable procedure. The paediatrician Professor Dr. Ulrich Wahn, leader of the paediatric clinic with main focus on Pneumology and Immunology at the Charite’-Medical University Berlin finds it “virtually abnormal” to make a skin test with a child: “Skin tests done on toddlers borders on child abuse”.

 The citation of Prof. Wahn:
“Skin tests done on toddlers borders on child abuse” occurred during the 43rd congress of German Society for Pneumology (GPP) and the 22nd Conference of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAI) from the 13th to the 16th of March in Bochum, Germany.
The lab test is more gentle and suitable for children. The procedure is to extract a little bit of blood and examine it in the lab. This test determines the releasing allergens very accurately. In the opinion of the Doctors’ Association of German Allergists (ÄDA) and the German Society for Allergy and Immunity Research (GDAI), the lab examination - as opposed to the commonly used Skin-Tests - spare the young patients the stress involved in the skin-test and also prevent exposure to allergens of those with extreme sensitization, which could be potentially dangerous. Besides, they offer the advantage of a more exact control and precision of the results.