"You're allergic to ragweed, peanuts or your pet, so you see the doctor for regular allergy shots. Over time, she injects larger doses of the allergen, so you become less sensitive to it, easing symptoms. What a pain! Soon you may be able to treat yourself at home, needle free.
For more than a decade, many Europeans have been skipping shots and taking allergens by mouth, where they're absorbed into the bloodstream. It's convenient and painless, so patients are more likely to seek treatment. But a panel of U.S. doctores reviewed 100 mostly European studies on the subject, and these experts aren't reccomending the oral method here just yet. 'In some studies, very high doses have no efficacy over the long term, while others using a low dose seemed to have benefits over a short time,' says task force co-chair, Linda Cox. 'There's some work that needs to be done to understand the mechanism.'
Scientists at Greer Laboratories are doing that work. Once they determine optimal dosages, they hope to begin seeking FDA approval for the technique by next year."
~Reader's Digest, March 2006
How great would that be if we could use it for the dogs, too?