Americans and our Allergies

One out of every five Americans, or an estimated 50 million people, suffers from asthma and allergies. Allergy is the 5^th most common chronic disease in the country, affecting people of all ages, and the 3^rd most frequently chronic condition effecting children.  The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reports that the amount of Americans who say they have allergies problems is growing and its considered to be one of the nation's most common, yet unrecognized, diseases. Allergies are broken into several categories: indoor and outdoor allergies, skin allergies, food and drug allergies, eye allergies, insect allergies, and latex allergy.

Some facts about allergies in the U.S:

• Allergies are reported as the most common chronic condition among American children.
• Allergies restrict the physical activity of over 40% of children with them.
• Over 17 million doctor visits annually are attributed to allergy-related problems, mostly in the spring and fall for seasonal allergy symptoms.
• Upwards of 7 million people visit the doctor for skin allergies.
• More than 30,000 patients visit the emergency room at a hospital because of food allergies
• Over 200 people in the U.S. die each year because of food-related allergies
• More than 200 Americans die each year due to insect allergies
• Almost 400 Americans die annually because of an allergic reaction to penicillin
• Allergy-related costs are estimated at almost 7 billion dollars in the United States
• Americans have spent $5.7 billion dollars on allergy medicines and $300 million on office visits to their doctor to treat allergy symptoms.
• Allergies are responsible for almost 4 million Americans missing work each year, resulting in over $700 million dollars of lost workplace production.
  

Allergies can limit a person's ability to enjoy the outdoors, put them as serious health risk when dinning out, and inhibit their general enjoyment of life. Severe allergic reactions can even be fatal. Since allergies are such a significant health issue, patients are more aggressively pursuing allergy-testing and treatment. Pharmaceutical companies have recognized the need for better allergy medication and there are many choices to help patients get allergy symptom relief. Many of these medicines, like Loratadine (Claritin®) and Fexofenadine (Allegra®, Telfast®) are antihistamine drugs, which reduces the amount of chemical histamine that the body manufactures. Histamine production increases when the body is exposed to an allergen and this excess can bring about symptoms. Allergy drugs can be purchased both over-the-counter, by prescription, or through an online pharmacy. Such medicines are often the only means of offering allergy-prone Americans relief.