Mike Carruthers

Is that really an allergy to penicillin, or is that some sort of intolerance to penicillin?

When I was growing up, I don't remember hearing

people talk about food allergies that, you know, little Johnny could, could die if he's exposed to a peanut.

I mean, I just, I'd never ever heard that.

We're taking an important look at allergies, and my guest is Dr. Zachary Rubin.

He's a double board certified pediatrician and allergist immunologist and author of the book All About Allergies, Everything You Need to Know About Asthma, Food Allergies, Hay Fever, and More.

So, Dr. Rubin, my sense of allergies used to be that they were something very treatable, not benign, but not life-threatening.

But now you hear about peanut allergies or nut allergies and people dying, and I don't understand that.

How do you die from an allergy?

I know a lot of people, I don't know, I actually don't know that a lot of people, but it seems like a lot of people have seafood allergies, shellfish allergies.

And generally, what are the symptoms of a seafood allergy?

Is there a good understanding of how you acquire an allergy?

You had mentioned peanut allergies.

Maybe it's because you weren't exposed to peanuts.

But what about other allergies?

Is it passed down?

Is it all environmental?

Some or both?

I don't know.

Is it safe to assume that the most common allergy is things in the air, pollen, whatever is in the air that makes people sneeze, and that's the most common?