More than 100 million people in the U.S. have some allergy each year. That’s about every 1 in 3 adults.
For many, the fix is a bandaid: over-the-counter allergy medications.
But there’s another treatment that works to lessen these reactions rather than just manage people’s symptoms, allergy shots. The treatment has been around for over a century and is still popular today. Patients have to take the shots for a few years, and it’s the closest thing science has to a cure.
Host Regina G. Barber speaks with Dr. Gina Dapul-Hidalgo about how this immunotherapy works and how certain guidelines to keep your child from developing common food allergies have changed.
Interested in more science behind allergies? Check out our episodes:
Having a food allergy? And how your broken skin barrier might be the cause
Spring Allergies and what to do about them
Interested in more research into human biology and consumer health? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.