Allergy historical perspective
|
Allergy Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Allergy historical perspective On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Allergy historical perspective |
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Allergy historical perspective |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
The term "allergy" was first coined in the early 1900s. It has since evolved into a number of distinct disease mechanisms linked to immune system activation that is disordered. With the discovery of immunoglobulin E (IgE) - Kimishige Ishizaka - in the 1960s, the overall study of allergy as a concept changed dramatically.
Historical Perspective
Clemens von Pirquet, a Viennese pediatrician, coined the term "allergy" in 1906 after observing that some of his patients were hypersensitive to normally harmless substances such as dust, pollen, or certain foods. Pirquet coined the term "allergy" from the Greek words allos, which means "other," and ergon, which means "work."[1] Historically, all forms of hypersensitivity were classified as allergies, and all were thought to be caused by an improper activation of the immune system. Later, it became clear that several different disease mechanisms were implicated, with the common link to a disordered activation of the immune system. In 1963, a new classification scheme was designed by Philip Gell and Robin Coombs that described four types of hypersensitivity reactions, known as Type I to Type IV hypersensitivity.[2] With this new classification, the word "allergy" was restricted to only type I hypersensitivities (also called immediate hypersensitivity), which are characterized as rapidly developing reactions.
A major breakthrough in understanding the mechanisms of allergy was the discovery of the antibody class labeled immunoglobulin E (IgE) - Kimishige Ishizaka and co-workers were the first to isolate and describe IgE in the 1960s.[3]
References
- ↑ Von Pirquet C (1906). "Allergie". Munch Med Wochenschr. 53: 1457.
- ↑ Gell PGH, Coombs RRA. (1963). Clinical Aspects of Immunology. London: Blackwell.
- ↑ Ishizaka K, Ishizaka T, Hornbrook MM (1966). "Physico-chemical properties of human reaginic antibody. IV. Presence of a unique immunoglobulin as a carrier of reaginic activity". J. Immunol. 97 (1): 75–85. PMID 4162440.