Early reports of allergies
"Perhaps the earliest report of allergic disease is that of King Menses of Egypt, who was killed by the sting of a wasp at some time between 3640 and 3300 BC. Another report from ancient history is that of Britannicus, the son of the Roman Emperor Claudius. He was allergic to horses and "would develop a rash and his eyes swelled to the extent that he could not see where he was going". Accordingly, the honour of riding at the head of the young patricians fell to Nero who was Claudius’s adopted son. Nero allegedly threw Christians to the lions and killed Britannicus. Sir Thomas More gives the next authoritative account of allergy: King Richard III used his allergy to strawberries to good effect in arranging the judicial murder of Lord William Hastings. The King surreptitiously ate some strawberries just prior to giving an audience to Hastings and promptly developed acute urticaria. He then accused Hastings of putting a curse on him, an action that demanded the head of Hastings on a plate."
From Auckland Allergy Clinic
Early records of Anaphylaxis
"Professor Charles Robert Richet, Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine and Physiology in 1913, for the discovery of anaphylaxis. With his versatile personality he was involved in many different fields. His investigative work included diverse themes such as respiration, digestion, epilepsy and the regulation of body heat. To him we owe three new words, and as such, three new concepts: anaphylaxis, polypnea and zoomotherapy."
From National Libary of Medicine
Charles Richet
"In 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his researches on anaphylaxis. He invented this word to designate the sensitivity developed by an organism after it had been given a parenteral injection of a colloid or protein substance or a toxin (1902). Later he demonstrated the facts of passive anaphylaxis and anaphylaxis in vitro. The applications of anaphylaxis to medicine are extremely numerous. "
From nobelprise.org
Book
Allergy:The History of a Modern Malady
By Mark Jackson
Allergy testing
"In 1819, Dr. John Bostock first accurately described hay fever as a disease that affected the upper respiratory tract. Fifty years later, Charles Blakely performed the first skin test by applying pollen through a small break in the skin."
From the Allergy Asthma Center (www.allergydoctors.com)
Early reports of Letex Allergy
"Descriptions of apparent allergic reactions to natural rubber appeared in the medical literature in 1927, and irritant and delayed-contact reactions were reported in 1933. Although irritant and delayed-contact reactions to rubber products were increasingly recognized, immediate-type allergic reactions were not reported again until 1979. However, after 1980, increasing numbers of contact urticarial reactions to latex were reported, and investigations suggested that many of these reactions were IgE-mediated. "
From National Libary of Medicine
Asthma - a Disease of Antiquity
The actual term asthma is a Greek word that is derived from the verb aazein, meaning to exhale with open mouth, to pant. The expression asthma appeared for the first time in the Iliad, with the meaning of a short-drawn breath, but the earliest text where the word is found as a medical term is the Corpus Hippocraticum. However it is difficult to determine whether in referring to "asthma,"
From The Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, Southern CA Chapter