Achooo!

We used to go to Amish County frequently, and besides the great chow at the smorgasbords up there, I miss the people. "Plain," they call themselves. Yes, because they don't go in for ritzy jewelry and designer labels and bizarre hairstyles. They are good, decent people, and I just found out another thing I like about them: they're not always sneezin' and scratchin' as we "English" are prone to do. (Up there, if you aren't Amish, you're "English.")

It's true: the Amish seem somehow virtually immune from allergies, be it pollen, dander, peanuts, whatever, they skate on by.

People who look into these things ran tests, and only 7 percent of Amish children tested  positive to common allergens in a skin prick test. For the rest of us, more than half get the miseries. And even kids from non-Amish farm families, who have lower rates of allergic disease than nonfarm children, are more allergic than the Amish.

Carole Ober, chair of human genetics at the University of Chicago, says, “Generally, across the country, about 8 to 10 percent of kids have asthma. In the Amish kids, it’s probably 1 to 2 percent. A few of them do have allergies, but at much, much lower rates compared to the general population.”

Good for them. So, why? Ober and others are trying to figure out why Amish and  other traditional farming communities are unique in this way. Maybe science could develop a treatment, like a probiotic or essential oil containing substances found in farm dust. Maybe that's the key.

I'd like to think that science and medicine and our magnificent pharmaceutical firms (!) can come up with something. I'd also like to think that my spring allergies will fade away soon to make room for the fall allergies on deck.