No More Sneezing

If you happen to be among those (many) people who can't enjoy warm weather on account of suffering from hay fever, here is some good news for you: due to extensive new research, the sneezing and runny nose could no longer prevent you from enjoying the summer season. Instead of following grueling treatments that span the course of months or even years, scientists have developed a vaccine to protect you against the symptoms of hay fever.

The vaccine in question was developed by Allergy Therapeutics in Sussex, Great Britain, and contains a pollen protein that helps the body build up immunity to the dreaded pollen. The vaccine can be administered extremely quickly and it only requires four jabs, one every week for four weeks. This is made possible by the fact that the vaccine contains modified proteins that can avoid detection by antibodies and allow for high doses to be administered from the very beginning.

This study, conducted by Dr Tom Holdich, chief executive of Allergy Therapeutics, consisted of giving 1,028 volunteers based in Europe and North America either this new vaccine - Pollinex Quattro - or a placebo before the beginning of the pollen season in 2007. New Scientist reports that symptoms in allergy sufferers who were administered the vaccine dropped by 13%.

It is not the perfect cure - of course, in a field as complex as that of allergies, a miracle treatment is still a dream - but it seems better than many other solutions already existing on the market. People who suffer from hay fever often take antihistamines, use eye drops or nasal sprays - which never completely eliminate the symptoms, but rather just alleviate them for a short while.

Allergy Therapeutics hopes the vaccine will be licensed for use in Europe next year. If it is and if the vaccine proves really effective, it might mean the end of many unpleasant problems and it might greatly improve the quality of life for millions of people all over the world.