What Are Allergies? The public and mass media use the term
“allergy” loosely. Without a clear definition, a lot of
confusion and miscommunication can result. From a medical and
scientific perspective, allergy is a condition in which the
immune system reacts to something in the environment that is
harmless. The human immune system is an incredible thing. Its
job is primarily to protect the human body from infections. You
can imagine the immune system as the defense department of the
body. When the body is under siege by microbes, the immune
system sends out microscopic troops to ward off an invasion.
Without an intact immune system, human beings would be
constantly threatened by various infections. However, having a
large army of elite troops can be a double-edged sword.
Sometimes the armed forces sound a false alarm and respond to an
innocuous material from the environment. This response could be
a localized mobilization, or it could be a full-scale assault on
a nonexistent enemy. When the immune system react