From redness to anaphylaxis: diagnosis and emergency care for allergic reactions

Allergy is the body's readiness for immune reactions, i.e. allergic reactivity. Allergic reactivity is such an increased sensitivity when the development of a reaction to a specific antigen (a substance carrying genetically foreign information) causes tissue damage or disruption of their function. The concept of disruption of functions must be introduced because in some allergic reactions, for example, mild anaphylactic or tuberculin shock, macroscopically caused damage is absent.

Hypersensitivity to an antigen is the basis of all immunological reactions. Hypersensitivity is determined by the presence of high-avidity antibodies, clones of immunocompetent cells with highly specific receptors. But the presence of specific antibodies in the blood serum may not determine allergy, but, on the contrary, resistance to its manifestations. Thus, allergic reactivity, or the state of allergy, is the property of the body, which arose as a result of immunological restructuring, to react to a damaging antigen, which occurs with tissue damage or disruption of their functions. Reactions to this are allergic reactions.

The process of forming allergic reactivity should be called allergization. The basis of allergization of the body is the process of forming hypersensitivity to the action of a specific antigen. The state of high allergic reactivity negatively affects the body's immunological defense. Allergic reactivity changes according to phase patterns, and its absence or low level may correspond to both low and high immunity.

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