Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann - Allergic Diseases – From Basic Mechanisms to Comprehensive Management and Prevention

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100 million days per year. One can only imagine what could be achieved in that huge amount of time. This is the number of days people with allergies miss at work or in school in Europe within one year, because they do not feel well. Not counting the days when they are physically present, but not quite up to their tasks.

The burden of allergic diseases is high. Not only the symptoms of the diseases itself, such as running and blocked nose, sneezing, itchy skin and others, but also the accompanying impairment in terms of sleeplessness, abandonment of certain activities and food, anxiety of an allergic shock, as well as time-intensive and expensive treatments decrease the quality of life of the patients. Many patients develop mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Often not only the patients themselves, but also their families suffer under these circumstances.

In 2025, according to estimations, every second inhabitant of the European Union will have to deal with some form of allergy: that makes more than 225 million people. Knowing about the increasing prevalence of allergic diseases, we work for understanding the mechanisms and developing effective prevention and management of allergies. This book aims at providing the current knowledge about allergic diseases to a large number of scientists, practitioners and also the people concerned.

In it, the knowledge and expertise of 65 leading scientists of the field from 8 different countries is brought together to take a close look at all aspects of allergies. What is known about their history, their different forms, the mechanisms of their development, about risk factors, diagnosis, disease management and above all about ways to prevent them are all collected in this single volume. It presents the state of the art and also gives an overview of basic science beyond mere textbook knowledge. It maps what is established as well as what is still to be explored, hopefully in the near future, in order to lighten the burden for all the people suffering and prevent further increases in the prevalence of allergies.

This volume covers large ground.

Part I of this book explains the historical and epidemiological background of allergies. In the chapter on the History of Allergy, Ring starts with the first descriptions of allergy in antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in Renaissance. The chapter continues with the beginnings of allergology in the early 19th century and finally describes the developments in diagnosis, therapy and in understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of allergic diseases in the 20th century. Genuneit and Standl then summarize our knowledge on the Natural course and risk factors of allergic diseases in the 21st century from an epidemiological perspective.

Although the mechanisms at work when allergies develop or are triggered are not yet fully known at least on the molecular level the chapters of Part II describe some of the general mechanisms that have been identified as important. Knol and Gilles take a close look at the four types of hypersensitivity reactions that underlie the overreacting immune systems and bring this distinction that has been developed more than 60 years ago in line with actual findings. Biedermann et al. concentrate on the barrier function of the skin and stress the importance of its integrity which is protected by complex measures such as wound repair or anti-infective immune reactions. New methods, e.g. new sequencing technologies also offer fascinating new insights. Schwierzeck, Hlpsch and Reiger use these for analyses of various microbiomes. In their article they explain research methods and report findings concerning alterations of the microbiome of the skin, the lung and nasopharynx that correlate with allergic diseases.