First edition.

xx, 344 pages : illustration ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages [299]-325) and index.

Prologue: Everything that irritates us -- Part one Diagnosis. What allergy is (and isn't) -- How allergy diagnosis works (or doesn't) -- Our allergic world : measuring the rise of allergic disease -- Part two Theories. Allergic inheritance : allergies as a "normal" immune response -- Nature out of whack -- Are we doing this to ourselves? The modern lifestyle and allergy -- Part three Treatments. Remedies for the irritated : allergy treatments past, present, and future -- The booming business of allergy treatments -- What makes a treatment effective? Weighing benefits and risks -- Allergy is a social problem, too -- Irritating ourselves to death : allergy in the time of COVID-19.

"Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Either you have a frustrating allergy, or you know someone who does. Billions of people worldwide--an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the global population--have some form of allergy; millions have one severe enough to actively endanger their health. Even more concerningly, over the last decade, the number of people diagnosed with allergy has been steadily increasing. Medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail, herself an allergy sufferer whose father died of a bee sting, set out to understand why. This book is a holistic examination of the phenomenon of allergies from its first medical description in 1819 to the mind-bending recent development of biologics and immunotherapies that are giving the most severely impacted patients hope. In pursuit of this story, Theresa spent time with hundreds of experts, patients and activists: she scaled a roof with an air quality controller who diligently counts pollen by hand for hours every day; met a mother struggling to use WIC benefits for her daughter with severe food allergies; shadowed doctors at some of the finest allergy clinics in the world; and discussed the intersecting problems of climate change, pollution, and pollen with biologists who study seasonal respiratory allergies"-- Provided by publisher.

Allergy -- History.

Allergy -- Popular works.

Allergy.

MEDICAL / Internal Medicine.

History.

Online version: MacPhail, Theresa. Allergic First edition. New York : Random House, [2023] 9780593229200 (DLC) 2022032276

9780593229194 (hardcover)

0593229193 (hardcover)