A Double-Blind Study of the Effectiveness and Specificity of Injection Therapy in Ragweed Hay Fever

INJECTIONS of allergenic extracts as a means of mitigating the effects of seasonal exposure to pollens, to be referred to as injection therapy, has been practiced for over fifty years. The number of patients in this country receiving injection therapy is unknown, but it must be very large — probably of the order of 1,000,000. The mere magnitude of this medical enterprise might suffice as evidence for its efficacy except that objective criteria for success or failure are lacking and that factors other than injection treatment may profoundly influence the course of pollenosis and the opinion of both patient and . . .