The editors wish to thank the following persons and organizations for their contributions to the present volume: The Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; M. Susan Daglish, Allergy Information Association; Amer­ican Academy of Allergy and Immunology; Carol Rudoff, American Allergy Association; Annals of Allergy; W. B. Saunders Company; Syracuse University Press; Abbott Laboratories; Fran Gentile; Bobbi Angell; Phil Jones; Hollister-Stier Laboratories. We wish to make a special acknowledgment to the late Dr. Francis Cabot Lowell, who at the time of his death was consulting editor of this volume. Long associated with the allergy unit of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and with Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lowell had begun to bring his lifetime of expertise to this book, as he did to his work generally. He will be missed.

, is President of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology and former Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council of the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America. He is a professor of internal medicine and microbiology at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. John E. Salvaggio, m.d., is Henderson Professor of Medicine at Tu-lane University School of Medicine. He has published and lectured extensively on immunology and related medical subjects. Harold S. Novey, m.d., is clinical professor of medicine at the Uni­versity of California, Irvine, and Chief of the Division of Allergy-Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Medical Center. Thomas M. Golbert, m.d., is assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has a private practice in allergy and clinical immunology. William R. Solomon, m.d., is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. Manuel Lopez, m.d., is assistant clinical professor of medicine at Tulane University Medical School and director of the Immunology Diagnosis Laboratory in Pensacola, Florida. David A. Levy, m.d., is professor of biochemistry and medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. He has lectured and published on the mechanism of immediate hypersensitivity. Gail G. Shapiro, m.d., is clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, Seattle, and a frequent writer on allergy-related subjects. Sheldon L. Spector, m.d., is head of the section in allergy of the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, Denver, Colorado, and associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Medical Center.

This book is dedicated to the thirty-five million Americans (and their families) who suffer from allergies. Allergies are the most common form of chronic disease in the United States. Nine million Americans suffer from asthma, almost fifteen million have hay fever, and another twelve million have such allergic diseases as eczema, hives, angio-edema, food and drug sensitivity, and insect sting hypersensitivity. All told, 17 percent of Americans are allergic to some degree. Clearly, we are dealing with a condition with enormous importance to public health. The impact of these diseases is considerable. In some cases, the financial burden may overwhelm families. The total cost of allergic diseases to American society as a whole has been estimated at more than $1 billion. The direct cost—including physician services, hos­pital care, and medication—is $850 million; the indirect cost, such as days lost from work, runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Other, more subtle, costs are involved, which have to do with the quality of life for Americans. Activity is often restricted, work may have to be limited to certain areas, and both physical and emotional growth may be retarded. The special demands of an allergic person can place a substantial strain on his or her family. Vacations must be restricted, family income diverted, and activity around the home limited —all of which can affect the nonallergic members of a family almost as much as the allergic one. Is it any wonder, then, that the divorce rate among allergic families is significantly higher than it is among families without allergic members? The Allergy Encyclopedia is designed to provide the allergy suf­ferer, as well as friends and families, with an overall view of this common, complex group of diseases. With knowledge comes under­standing. Our hope is that the distinguished doctors represented in this encyclopedia have accomplished their mission to dispel myths and provide readers with up-to-date, readable, and medically accu­rate information. To understand and control allergic diseases, we must first under­stand the immune system. Dr. Levy sets the stage with a clear expo­sition of immunology —the basic science of allergy. Dr. Solomon discusses regional factors in allergy and provides the reader with an overview of the various inhalants around the country that may be responsible for allergic diseases. A guide to allergies by doctors Lopez and Salvaggio, in glossary form, defines the terms most often en­countered. Drugs commonly used to treat allergies are covered by Dr. Golbert, and the most serious of the allergic diseases—namely, aller­gic emergencies—are covered by Dr. Novey. Dr. Shapiro describes research in immunology and discusses the various approaches to the treatment of allergies, showing graphically how scientists in the labora­tory are attempting to provide the basic information that could lead to clinical advances in diagnosis and treatment. A separate chapter is devoted to questions frequently asked about allergic diseases. Finally, a special effort has been made in this book to provide information of practical use to the reader. Included are a listing of allergy associa­tions, summer camps, residential centers, and hospitals, as well as diets and cooking hints and a suggested reading list. This Foreword would not be complete without mention of The Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, the major national volun­tary health organization concerned with these widespread immuno­logic diseases. A nonprofit organization formed over thirty years ago, AAFA’s goal is the control and cure of asthma and allergic disease through stimulating growth in the science of immunology; training future leaders in allergy and immunology; aiding the con­tinuing medical education of physicians and other health care pro­viders; and, most important, creating more—and more informed— choices for over 35 million sufferers, their families, and friends. AAFA supports the scientific studies of brilliant physician-scientists in immunology through financial awards, aids specialized clinical training in immunology with annual fellowships, helps sponsor con­tinuing medical education programs at leading medical institutions, works at the grassroots to support and educate patients and families, and conducts local and national drives to raise public concern and financial support for healthier Americans with asthma and allergic diseases. AAFA’s Medical-Scientific Council, its source of current scientific and professional knowledge, is a service of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology. The address of the Head­quarters Office of AAFA, which strongly deserves our support, is: 1302 18th Street NW, Suite 303, Washington, D.C. 20036. (A list of AAFA chapters is found on pages 242-243.)