Clinician and researcher Lahari Rampur became interested in allergy studies when confronted with underserved populations in India followed by the amazing possibilities for treatments she found in her graduate work in New York. She's since spent her professional career pursing allergy and autoimmune disorder treatments.  Dr. Rampur explains to listeners Why it's important to identity true allergic reactions to antibiotics versus tolerable side effects, Which theories may explain the rise of allergies, and How breakthrough treatments work, including allergy shots and biologic medications for asthma. Dr. Lahari Rampur is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, at the University of Washington. The majority of her time is spent in clinical work involving allergy and autoimmune disorders. However, she also researches antibiotic allergies. She explains that while many people have a history of allergic reactions to penicillin and various antibiotics, alternatives can be more expensive and have bad side effects. Her research involves developing important protocols and guidelines therefore to identify who is truly allergic versus those patients who will be able to tolerate those antibiotics. In fact, she's found that 90% of those who've had reactions are able to tolerate the antibiotics at a later time.  She shares some general information about allergies with listeners, including genetics versus environmental factors and offers solutions to allergies, from dust mite control measures to allergy shots. She describes how allergy shots work to gradually teach the immune system not to over react to the introduced substance, affecting the behavior of cytokine cells. She also describes some exciting breakthroughs, including biologic medications that work well with certain types of asthma by blocking IgE antibodies. For more, google her name and see her website at the University of Washington: https://aid.uw.edu/faculty/lahari-rampur-md