Love cats but have cat allergy? Well, hang in there - scientists are closing in on a cat allergy vaccine that will let you have your cat fix without the sniffles:
A mix of seven synthetic peptides makes up the vaccine. The idea, the researchers wrote, is that the immune system will encounter these peptide strands, which fit into the immune cells like a key to a lock, and recognize them as harmless. That action stops the sniffling, sneezing inflammatory response in its tracks, even when the peptides are attached to real cat proteins.
An early clinical trial on 88 patients resulted in no serious side effects, the researchers reported. A single injection reduced the skin's inflammatory reaction to cat allergens by 40 percent, the researchers wrote.
It reminds me of when I moved from the sunshine coast in British Columbia, where the weather is mild and the temperature comfortable, to Ontario mid-winter where the air is freezing cold and awash with snow. I remember wearing a heavy winter jacket unlike anything I'd ever seen and still shivering in my boots. Meanwhile my cousins who had grown up in Ontario were lightly dressed in T-shirts and what looked like fall coats. They were not shivering at all.