Addressing the prevalence of respiratory allergy in the home environment

Respiratory allergy prevalence has always depended both on genetic predisposition and specific environmental allergenic stimulation that leads to sensitization and eventual symptomatic disease. Changes brought about by modern technology that have afforded a higher quality of life have also accidentally increased the levels of many respirable and ingestible allergens in the environment. In many cases these higher levels of exposure have exceeded individual thresholds, resulting in the phenotypic expression of allergy in many individuals who were previously asymptomatic even though they were genotypically predisposed to developing allergies. Prevalence can be decreased only if susceptible populations are identified as early as possible through careful family history taking and appropriate testing for sensitivity and if exposure to selected allergens is controlled.