Raising cats and petting cats has gradually become a favorite way for many people to decompress. Recently, Miss Shen, who has been raising cats for more than two years, suddenly had symptoms such as nasal itching, nasal congestion, and itchy eyes. After examination, the doctor diagnosed him as a cat hair allergy. In fact, like Miss Shen, there are not a few people who suddenly have an allergic reaction after having a cat for many years. Why did I have an allergic reaction when I first got a cat, but after a few years?
After last year's new coronavirus infection, the ** response department outpatient clinic has come to a lot of cat owners, some of them have been raising cats for years, some have been raising cats for years, and they have been calm before, but after 'Yangkang', when getting along with cats, they slowly have symptoms such as nasal itching, nasal congestion, and itchy eyes. At first, these patients thought they had a cold, but these symptoms were mild and severe, and did not disappear for months, and some patients developed cough and chest tightness before they suspected allergies. Yu Ruili, deputy chief physician of the Department of Reaction of Beijing Shijitan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, said that the occurrence of allergies needs to have an "opportunity", when the body's resistance decreases, people who have not reacted to cat hair before may have allergic reactions, or people who have had mild allergic reactions before may be aggravated.
Yu Ruili introduced that the allergens of cat hair allergy are generally cat hair and cat dander. At present, there are very mature and accurate cat hair allergy detection reagents in clinical practice, which are easy to detect.
Clinically, the most common symptoms in patients with cat hair allergy are allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Yu Ruili said that when patients are exposed to a large amount of cat hair and their body resistance is low, they will have cough, chest tightness and other lower respiratory tract allergies, which can even cause asthma, and if the acute attack of asthma is not timely, it may be life-threatening.
In terms of **, Yu Ruili suggested that patients should first carry out environmental control, such as reducing close contact with cats, using vacuum cleaners and sweeping robots to clean up cat hair on the ground in a timely manner, air purifiers to remove cat hair floating in the air, and often opening windows for ventilation. If environmental control is ineffective for the patient, oral allergy medications, eye drops, nasal rinse, etc., are required. If the above **effect is not ideal, it is necessary to desensitize cat hair**, which is also the cause**, and many patients also regard it as a "special drug" for cat hair allergy.
The elderly, children, pregnant women and other special groups with weak physique should be cautious about raising cats to avoid possible allergic reactions from the source. Yu Ruili pointed out that the special group of people who have already owned cats, taking pregnant women as an example, especially in the first and second trimesters, there are great restrictions on medication, and it is recommended that cats be strictly isolated or fostered to relatives' homes, which can avoid allergic reactions, and if asthma is caused by allergic reactions, it may cause miscarriage.
Many cat owners believe that cats are part of the family, do not abandon or give up, even if allergic reactions occur, they are not willing to foster cats to relatives and friends. Yu Ruili believes that if conditions permit, the cat can be kept in a certain room or not allowed to enter the bedroom, and if the symptoms are severe, a mask can be worn indoors to minimize the amount of cat hair inhaled, thereby reducing allergic symptoms.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Zhaohui.
Proofread by Lucy.