The Prediction and Prevention of Allergic Diseases Allergic diseases such as asthma, hay-fever, eczema and food allergies are amongst the most common and costly diseases in the world. Some people are even beginning to talk about an epidemic of allergic disease in the world. This increase is probably due to a combination of factors, of which increasing environmental pollution, the urbanisation of previously rural communities and artificial feeding methods in infancy are important causes. Medical research has shown that the period before and immediately after birth is very important for the future development of allergic disease. The newborn baby is especially vulnerable for the development of allergy.
Prevention is certainly better than cure where allergy is concerned.
An optimal programme for the prevention of allergic disease in children involves two fundamental principles. F irstly, it is important to identify and predict the high allergic risk newborn baby, since only babies who are hereditary at risk for the possible development of allergic disease need to go onto the allergy prevention programme. S econdly, the prevention of the allergic process in these high risk babies is important. This prevention process must be started as early as possible, since once the baby is exposed to the harmful allergy-producing substances, the allergic process will already have begun, and is difficult to stop. In order to identify the high allergic-risk newborn it is important to have information on the number of family members who have one or other allergic disease.