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Article: Pet allergies. (Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Vibrant Life
- Article date:
- March 1, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Review and Herald Publishing Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Do you sneeze at your Siamese? If so, you're one of the millions who have pet allergies. "Allergies to pets are not present when a child is first born," says Dr. Rebecca Gruchalla, an allergy expert and instructor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "Pet allergies take months or years to develop. And even if the pet is banished from the house or given away, the antigen persists for months. Eventually, after intense cleaning, it's removed."
When you sneeze at your cat, you're really sneezing at Fel d1, a protein present in a cat's skin, as well as in its saliva glands. As the cat licks its fur, it deposits these proteins on its body. ...