The allergy epidemic: what is the Australian response?

Kemp, Andrew S; Mullins, Raymond J; Weiner, John M

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00538.x

Topics

Australian researchers are at the forefront of allergy prevention and treatment

Allergic diseases increased dramatically throughout the 20th century, a change that has been described as an “epidemic”.1,2 To mark the launch of the the MJA Practice Essentials — Allergy series in this issue, we review some aspects of the Australian response.

1 Department of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW.
2 Medical School, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
3 Department of Respiratory Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: andrewk5@chw.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank Dr Peter Smith for providing illustrations for this series.

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