CURE FOR HAY FEVER

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 May 1935, Page 5

CURE FOR HAY FEVER

FIGHTS DISEASE IT CAUSES. A timely paper by Dr. David Harley, of the Asthma Research Department at St. Mary’s Hospital, in a recent number of the “British Medical Journal,” draws attention to the very great advances recently in the treatment of hay fever. t In the strict sense of the term hay fever is an acute congestion of the eyes and the mucuous linings of the nose, throat, and upper respiratory tract. It is due, in sensitive persons, to the irritation caused by the pollens of various grasses.

It has to be remembered, however, that the term hay fever is often used loosely, and may include cases in which the reaction is the same but where the responsible factor may be other vegetable or animal dusts. It has now become possible in many instances to determine the particular factor responsible. In persons liable to hay fever an extract of pollen, if rubbed into the skin, will produce a typical local reaction o£ irritation, congestion, and swelling. Together with this index of sensitiveness, it has been found that desensitisation is possible, in a very large proportion of cases, by a course of subcutaneous injections of pollen extract, controlled by the skin tests mentioned. The injections should be given each year before the pollinating season, preferably in April and May. The usual method is the injection of increasing doses at intervals of two or three days. But Dr. Harley refers to a method, recently perfected by Dr. John Freeman, director of the Asthma Clinic at St. Mary’s Hospital, whereby, if necessary, the treatment can be effectively completed in a week. If at the end of this time, or of the longer series of injections, the skin reaction has become negative, complete relief from symptoms can be guaranteed. It is gratifying to know, too, that in some cases—where the responsible factor or factors have been determined—intensive treatment for three or four years may result in a permanent immunity.