ALLERGY TO CLEANING PRODUCTS/CHEMICALS AT WORK OR SCHOOL: DISINFECTANTS

Most domestic disinfectants are based on quaternary ammonium compounds or on phenol (carbolic acid). They also contain fragrances, usually complex hydrocarbons. Disinfectants are unpleasant and troublesome chemicals. Do not use them unless you have a strong need – say, infection or an invalid in the home.

Very hot water, and plenty of it, is the best way to clean up after any baby messes and mishaps. Most kitchen surfaces are effectively disinfected by thorough washing and rinsing with hot water. A solution of Borax or sodium bicarbonate will serve as a mild disinfectant for most purposes, as will oxygen bleach.

Air conditioning systems are often regularly disinfected to protect against bacterial infections such as Legionnaire’s Disease. This may affect you at work in the days immediately after the disinfection, while the fumes are blown through the system. Ask the people responsible to give you warning so that you can be prepared, or out of the building.

If you need to use a strong disinfectant, The Allergy Shop make an anti-bacterial concentrate which some people tolerate well. Unscented Dettox (available from supermarkets) is also tolerated well by some people with chemical sensitivity. Try these with care.

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ALLERGY BABYCARE\HOW TO WEAN: IF YOUR BABY REACTS

If your baby has reacted to a food during the day of testing it, (first or second time around), do not repeat it. Try and get through the day without giving another new test food – it may not be easy to work out which food the baby is reacting to, and will confuse the results.

If your baby is first weaning and reacts to a number of foods that you try, keep trying different foods on a four-day rotation until you find four foods that suit. Try not to give foods more frequently than once every four days – a food-sensitive baby may start to react to foods that he or she tolerated well if they are eaten too frequently. Ask a doctor for advice as you go on, particularly if you start running out of foods to try and you have a very hungry baby shouting for food. Ask for specialist help if you need it – some health visitors and GPs are very experienced and helpful with highly sensitive babies.

If your baby appears to start to react to foods for unexplained reasons, one of the causes may be cross-reaction between related foods. If you have a very sensitive baby, read FOOD AND DRINK and CROSS-REACTION before planning a weaning programme.

If your baby is on an established diet and is only testing single foods at the first meal of the day, you may get confusing results if he or she is reacting to foods in the normal diet, eaten during the rest of the day. The only way to sort this out may be to go to a full rotation diet. Consult a specialist doctor and.

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ALLERGY TO MOULDS: WHAT TRIGGERS SPORE RELEASE?

So what situations trigger spore release in concentrations? Usually it is some change in their environment. Sudden warming in damp conditions can stimulate spore release in an indoor environment. Using a tumble dryer, ironing clothes, drying wet towels or hanging wet laundry near a strong heat source will stimulate spore production. Bringing damp logs or a plant in from the cold will also produce mould spores. Installing central heating in an old house can bring about sudden concentrations of spores where there were few problems before. A damp spot beneath a dripping radiator valve can induce high levels of mould as the heating comes on. Keeping rooms dry and keeping a steady average temperature can do much to avoid such problems.

Climatic conditions can also stimulate spore release. A warm, humid period of weather in summer will encourage mould production on foliage, crops and plants. If there is then a windy period, the spores can be dispersed and carried even long distances. Some moulds implicated in allergy – Cladosporium, Alternaria, Botrytis Cinerea, StemphylUum – produce spores more readily in a drying wind. They can produce explosive concentrations of spores on hot, dry days in summer.

One allergenic mould – Didymella Exitalis – is very sensitive to moisture levels in the atmosphere. Its sporulation is provoked by dew formation; between June and early September, spores are released at about midnight and reach their peak at 3 a.m. It is also provoked by thunderstorms and reaches a peak some hours after very heavy rainfall in storms.

Another moisture sensitive mould is Sporobolomyces which, like Didymella, reaches its peak on warm summer nights in humid weather. It is at its height usually at about 4 a.m. in late July and August.

Some moulds thrive better in coastal situations, others inland.

Penicil Hum, for instance, does well in coastal sites; Cladosporium, Alternaria and StemphyUium are more prevalent inland.

Warmth and climate changes can thus stimulate spore production in airborne moulds. Disturbing and stirring up the mould’s environment can also produce very high local concentrations in soilborne moulds. Some moulds, such as Mucor and Rhizopus, live in the soil and only become airborne (and thus able to provoke allergic reactions) when they are disturbed. Thus digging a garden, playing in a sandpit and ploughing a field can propel spores into the air.

Other activities, too, can expose high levels of spores. Raking leaves, mowing grass, turning a compost heap, picking fruit, sweeping a yard – all these will throw mould spores into the atmosphere in high concentrations.

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