Summer hay fever

Varney VA, Gaga M, Frew AJ, Aber VR, Kay AB, Durham SR Usefulness of immunotherapy in patients with severe summer hay fever uncontrolled by antiallergic drugs. BMJ 1991 302 265-269. 

Since mass spectrometry got applicable to larger biomolecules [22,23], a big effort has been put into the identification of further allergy elicitors and into the structure elucidation of major allergens relevant for mankind. Special attention has been drawn on plants responsible for summer hay fever such as birch, willow, elder, hazelnut, grass poUen, mugwort, or chrysanthemum. One of the most unstudied trees whose plant parts are widely used is the elderberry tree Sambucus nigra). 

According to the classification of Gell and Coombs [2], summer hay fever is a type I allergy for which symptoms occur immediately or up to 1 h after contact when antigens, e.g., pollen, have entered the body and activated mast cells. These types of immune defense cells carry antibodies (IgEs) attached to their surfaces... 

Hay fever is most commonly due to hypersensitivity to pollens (tree pollen in springtime, grass and weed pollen during the summer) and occasionally mould spores (during the late summer and autumn months). There is a strong link between allergic rhinitis and other immune-mediated diseases such as atopic eczema and asthma. 

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