The present day statistics are not too good. Allergies place 3rd for adults after cancers and cardio-vascular sicknesses. As for children’s pathology, allergies place first. “I think that city urbanization, industrial development, contact with different chemical substances and the variety in food may become the reason for allergies to place first in the list of illnesses,” says candidate for medical sciences, chief allergist of the Ministry of Health, professor Vartan Akunts. Anything can become a cause for an allergic reaction, including dust in the home, insects, animal skin, plants, medicine, food, chemical substances, cosmetics, even cold and sun rays. Contemporary medical science has not figured out what causes allergies. Some think that an allergy is the wrong reaction of the immune system towards the outside world; others claim that the reason is ecological pollution while others think that it is more of a psychological issue. In any case, the cause for allergies remains a mystery. It can suddenly happen and disappear the same way.
Genetic and acquired
This disease is both genetic and acquired. “The maternal side is more prone to pass the illness genetically. The paternal does not play a big role,” says doctor Akunts. Before, pediatricians used to claim that children who eat artificial food are the ones prone to acquire allergies, but today it is proven that children who are breastfed can also contract the disease. According to doctor Akunts, “the mother’s milk can be totally inert in the cause for allergies; however, if the mother takes medicine, for example antibiotics, a large percentage of the antibiotics is found in the milk. The milk is infected with the antibiotics, something that neither the mother nor the doctor care to think about. If the child feels that he has an allergy, then the child has a super sense of feeling toward allergies. Many doctors that don’t know much about allergies, are amazed to know that the organism has lived through a sensibility period and that a child felt bad after using antibiotics for the first time in his life. There are few death cases too.”
The most known allergy in Armenia is the allergy caused by medicine with its types-bronchial asthma, allergic coughs, eczema.
People with allergies are chronic patients. The illness can come up from time to time. “Fortunately, many allergy cases can be treated. Only the specialist can do the treatment, in contrast to Armenia where treatment is done in the home. They inject hormones into the organism in its mixed up system and then get happy that they cured the patient. They do not cure the patient, they simply put him in an illuminated circle and then later, the anti-recidivist treatment can not be so effective,” says V. Akunts. Many of us have an allergic catarrh and very often many think that they can cure it by doing an operation on the cartilage of their nose without knowing the real reason. “A person who has catarrh does not know that bronchial asthma awaits him. The allergist treats the catarrh. Many go to the nose-throat doctor who separates anything in the nose and widens the nostrils. There was a time when there was an allergic tumor and now it is developing. It passes through the nose to the bronchi. The patient becomes a 2nd degree handicapped.” As for the dust found in the house, according to V. Akuntsi, he can solve that issue by himself. A hypodermic injection is done into the man’s organism and immunity is instilled.
Be aware of plants
People are of the opinion that what’s natural is good for the body which, according to V. Akunts, is incorrect. “I don’t welcome this because developed countries do not have anything to do with medical treatment with herbs. Only our wise men treat with herbs and sometimes curing by hormonal treatment, of course, without letting the patient know about that.” There is some kind of “secret effect” when it comes to talking about herbs. It means that each herb decoction has 15 substances which pass on to the patient and put him in a hard situation. “There was a famous doctor; I will not say his name, who used to order a lot of herbs. There were a lot of herbs. In that case, if there are patients who are sensitive towards the herbs, they can go into a tub in order to die,” says Akunts.
How is Armenia fighting against allergies? “Armenia is going very slow when it comes to fighting against allergies. Our Ministry of Health does not have any programs foreseen. The problem at hand continues to get serious and nobody seems to care about Armenia. Everyone is thinking about how to get as much money as possible. On one side of the scale you have the people who love to live lavishly and on the other you have the nationalists. If the nationalists’ side weighs a little more, everything will be fine,” says V. Akunts. “Our guilt plays a role here too. We are uneducated. I hope that people will read a little more and will approach this issue by using their heads.”