People whose brothers, sisters or parents have asthma are more likely to develop the illness themselves. For reasons that are not fully known, some people seem to inherit a tendency to develop allergies. This is not to say that a parent can pass on a specific type of allergy to a child. In other words, it doesn't mean that if your mother is allergic to bananas, you will be too. But you may develop allergies to something else, like pollen or mold.
Antibodies are proteins that the body produces to fight off foreign invaders.
One way to test a person for allergies is to perform skin tests with extracts of the allergens or do blood tests for IgE antibodies to these allergens. If you have asthma, it is important to be aware of the things in your environment that tend to make asthma worse. These factors vary from person to person. Some of the more common factors or triggers are described here. In many people with asthma, the same substances that cause allergy symptoms can also trigger an asthma attack.