According to the British government report it was found that there is an increase in the number of people admitted to hospital with severe allergic reactions to food or insect stings.
Anaphylaxis is found to be the most serious and potentially fatal form of allergic reaction. Statistics show that about 3,000 people suffer from allergic reactions and are admitted in the hospitals every year. There is a shortage of data about allergic reactions due to the lack of national monitoring. The review said that asthma, rhinitis (hay fever) and eczema rates have increased by two to threefold. In case of food allergies peanut reactions are the highest with triple the number of cases when compared to all allergic reactions.Experts feel that the main cause of the rise in the number of allergy sufferers is the over sensitization of the immune systems which can be attributed to people living in increasingly hygienic environments. Other causes could be increased consumption of exotic foods, such as kiwi fruit and sesame seeds. The government feels that NHS services to tackle allergy sufferers need to improve especially for asthma, rhinitis, eczema and acute allergic conditions, including extreme reactions to bee stings, nuts and some drugs such as penicillin. But the health campaigners calls for better monitoring and training among medical professionals. The GPs and others in primary care should be given proper training to handle support systems in order to spot allergy in the early stages, so that an effective management plan can be offered at an early stage.
