This was brought on by a revelation from one of the postgrads, who claims that he has a friend who is allergic to fresh fruit and vegetables. Yes, large-hive-inducing allergic. Weird (and unfortunate). This of course leads on to the obvious question:
Can you be allergic to water?
Apparently yes. It's called aquagenous urticaria. And it sounds rather unpleasant. Contact of water with mucous membranes and skin causes outbreaks of painful sores due to a histamine reaction. It can be acquired, or you can be born with it, but thankfully it is an extremely rare condition (less than 30 people worldwide have been diagnosed).
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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I know the guy in question. Apparently none of his new uni friends believed him, so he ate an apple in front of them. There are no photos of the event, presumably because everybody was too busy calling the ambulance. We don't try to test him anymore! He is now happy to learn that he doesn't have "the worst allergy ever".
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can have a whole section devoted discussing who has the most disappointing or life-altering allergies??? Of course, the obvious follow-on from that would be that knowing people's allergies could lead to a rash (hahaha!!!!) of highly entertaining (but slightly dangerous) practical jokes.
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