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Allergies
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Oakland Tribune - Pet allergies
Oakland Tribune - Pet allergies
March 18, 2008 -- PERHAPS ONE of the most frequent things I treat everyday are allergies. Allergies in pets cause uncontrollable itching (pruritis) and often...
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What is an allergy?
Normally your immune system's lymphocytes (white blood cells) travel to all parts of the body scanning the outside of proteins for chemical signatures. If it finds an invading protein, then the white blood cell returns to a lymph node where it becomes a plasma cell and generates antibodies to destroy that specific protein.
An allergy sufferer has a genetic defect that causes the white blood cells to misidentify protein and overreact to a foreign substance. If a person with a seafood allergy eats seafood, the white blood cells mistakenly think that the body is being invaded and produces many times more antibodies than are needed to fight the invaders. |
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