Allergy and Infection

Abstract

In previous communications^1-4 we had reported the association of overt infection in allergic children with exposure to specific inanimate antigens. Our observations disclosed that the various excitants of allergic reactions, such as foods, animal danders, household dusts, pollens, molds and nonspecific factors, evoked infectious responses in certain susceptible children. We concluded that the stage of recurrent respiratory infections which so commonly precedes the development of the classical allergic respiratory syndromes was not the predisposing cause of the allergic state, as so frequently contended, but was actually the first stage of the allergic cycle. We pointed out that the upsets in this stage were true infections brought on by a combination of microorganisms and the offending allergic factor or factors. The microorganisms, we explained, were present in the host without producing disease until “jolted” into activity by the allergic reaction, thus producing symptoms of overt infection. We emphasized that this phenomenon, termed the jolt reaction, is one of the important mechanisms for the production of disease in humans and that in the allergic child, it is the most important and outstanding mechanism.