Bacteria and viruses as allergens

BACTERIA AND VIRUSES AS ALLERGENS

 

A newborn baby has antibodies in his blood that protect him against respiratory infections. These antibodies, which he gets from his mother while he is still in the womb, are used up during the first year of life and leave him exposed to infections during the early part of his second year, until he makes enough antibodies of his own. During this interim period, the baby's respiratory infections become frequent and cause inflammations that erode his respiratory mucosa. These erosions permit the passage of minute particles of dead bacteria into his blood. These particles become allergens which cause wheezing in the chest each time the baby is exposed to the same bacteria. Furthermore, an inflamed respiratory mucosa promotes the absorption of inhalant allergens, and the relationship between inhalant allergy and infection becomes very intimate. As a result, infectional allergy acquires these characteristics: it is frequently accompanied by inhalant allergies; a vaccine prepared from the bacteria and viruses of children with inflectional allergy and given to them for desensitization purposes at times increases their symptoms; the symptoms of inflectional allergy disappear with the use of antibiotics, as well as with the removal of the source of infections in the tonsils and adenoids.
The treatment of inflectional allergy rests on four objectives:
a. Arrest of the infection with antibiotics
b. Control of the allergy with conventional remedies
c. Avoidance of the recurrence of the infection by removal of the source of the infection in the tonsils and adenoids
d. Desensitization against bacteria and viruses with cultures taken from the deep tissues of one's own tonsils and adenoids, or with stock vaccines.

Tonsillectomy in an Atopic Child
Tonsils confer immunity to infections and prevent allergy. However, frequent infections in the tonsils clinically cause more allergies when irritants, pollutants, chilling, sweating, or emotional upsets coexist with the infections.
The question arises as to whether one can prevent allergy through the removal of the tonsils (and their bacteria), or whether one should avoid the procedure because it may lower the child's resistance to infection, thus causing more allergies in the long run. The answer lies in the case in question. All the indications for a tonsillectomy are the same whether the child is atopic or not. They are the presence of frequent, repeated, and severe tonsillar infections; an inability to swallow caused by abnormally large tonsils; the presence of a peritonsillar abscess; recurrent, intermittent, or permanent hearing loss. However, should tonsillectomy become imperative in an atopic child, it should be done in a pollen- and mold-free season and in an allergy-free atmosphere. (The operating room, as well as the bedroom of the child, must be equipped with electrostatic air-cleaning devices to avoid exposing the abraded tonsillar area to new inhalants and inflectional agents.)

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