The Role of Allergy in Viral Respiratory Tract Infections

Introduction The exact interrelation of respiratory infections and allergy has been in dispute for years. 1-5 Whether such illnesses as colds, and pneumonia are trigger mechanisms 6 to the attack or act by aggravating allergic reactions already in progress, 7 or whether agents sensitize the bronchial mucosa remains unsettled. 1 The variety of terms that combine allergic and connotations that are used to describe respiratory infections in the allergic individual—intrinsic asthma, asthmatic bronchitis, infectious asthma, asthmatoid bronchitis—reveals the debatable status of this problem. 6 Clarification of this question is made difficult by the lack of viral diagnostic studies in such cases and is further complicated by the uncertainty in distinguishing clinically between respiratory tract infection and allergic coryza. 2,6 This study attempted to determine whether the wheezing which occurred in children with viral respiratory tract illness was associated with an allergic diathesis in these children. The