• Question: How is it possible to be allergic to water?

    Asked by yerseenee to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sarah Burl

      Sarah Burl answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      It is likely that you would be allergic to something in the water like an extra mineral or chlorine that is added to the water rather than pure water.

    • Photo: Mark Travis

      Mark Travis answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      There are a very small handful of people world wide who seem to have what looks like allergic reactions to water. This can be caused by a couple of conditions called Aquagenic urticaria (literally water-induced burn or Aquagenic pruritus (literally means water-induced itching). It is caused when non-distilled water comes into contact with the skin and causes severe skin sensitivity (not true allergy in the immune sense).
      It is not believed to be the actual water that causes the problem, but a mineral or added ingredient (e.g. chlorine, flouride) that triggers problems. Exactly how and why some people react in this way isn’t well understood- so very good question!

    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi yerseenee,

      Is it? I have not heard about this. ..! That would be a big problem for some one. Water is essential for all of us.

    • Photo: Mark Fogg

      Mark Fogg answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      It seems that the immune system has gone haywire in these cases. The body becomes sensitive to ions dissolved in the water. Very sad and uncomfortable for the sufferers

    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      here is quite an early paper on the topic

      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1505870/pdf/bmjcred00663-0020.pdf

      and a more recent one
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9647271

      often it can be down to chemicals in the water but as the second one sates we are not sure why..but it can be treated…
      this is ifetn the case with disease…we can see the effect , we may know the cause ( find bacteria at the site of damge) but no know the mechanics behind it

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