It feels like sneezing season lasts longer and takes more victims every year. An allergist and a public health specialist explain how to fight back. This episode was produced by Devan Schwartz, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact-checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Matthew Billy, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill. Photo by Bernd Weißbrod/picture alliance via Getty Images. If you have a question for us, give us a call on 1-800-618-8545 or send us a note here. Listen to Explain It to Me ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Correction: This episode mentions Xarelto as a potential allergy medication. It is not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What are the symptoms of seasonal allergies?
Well, thanks for having me. It's nice to be back on.
Coming up, what if I told you there's a potential cure-all on the horizon? Would you try it? That's after the break. It's Explain It To Me and we're back, this time with my colleague Dylan Scott, who covers health for Vox. Okay, so we've spoken about seasonal allergies and related issues with indoor air quality. How effective are the allergy medications that are available over the counter?
You know, it feels like there are so many options. You've got your pills, your sprays, all these different things. What is the landscape like?
Ja, genau. Es gibt eine ganze Eile an der Pharmazie, wo man für diese Über-die-Kontrolle-Medikamente für Allergien kaufen kann. Und ja, du hast Claritin, du hast Benadryl, du hast Xarelto. Diese lange Liste von Medikamenten. Aber Anihistamine können helfen, aber sie funktionieren wahrscheinlich nicht so gut, wie wir es gerne sehen würden.
Diese Allergien schlagen uns, wenn es Frühstück ist, wenn das Wetter schön wird. Alles, was wir tun wollen, ist, draußen zu sein. Anahistaminen sind besser als die, die wir vorher hatten, was im Grunde nichts war. Aber sie schneiden es nicht in diesen Tagen. Naselsprays sind furchtbar. Ich weiß nicht über dich, aber ich hasse es, Sachen auf meinen Nase zu sprayen.
Mhm.
I think a lot of people have been looking around for a while and thinking like, how can this be the best that we can do? This drug that maybe works like half the time or this sort of disgusting liquid that I have to shoot up my nostril. Like, we've got to be able to do better than that, right? And we're actually finally getting to the point where maybe we can't.
So, your reporting shows that, you know, we might be on the cusp of another medication revolution for allergies, almost like the one allergy cure to rule them all. But it's not a new medication per se. There's some history there.
Sure. So there is an existing drug. It's called, I'm going to butcher the scientific name, but I'll get the brand name right. It's called Omolizumab. But it's sold by the brand name Zolaire, which is a lot easier to handle. So this was a drug. It was approved 20 years ago and it was approved for the treatment of asthma.
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