[matthewh (OP)]

Luke is sick of waiting, so he asked us:

Why have I suddenly got hay fever as an adult, after suffering no symptoms my whole life before?

Let us know what might be the issue!

[chris]

We had Cambridge allergy specialist Pam Ewan on the Naked Scientists last year. I discussed this question with her in the context that people often claim that their allergy symptoms appear to improve as they age. Pam agreed that this can happen, although in her experience she sees equal numbers of patients presenting to her in adulthood with new-onset allergies; she she concluded that while allergies can improve with age, new allergies can also appear quite often too.