Allergy is a modern malady. Only one hundred years ago, the term 'allergy' was unknown, and diseases subsequently identified as allergic in nature, such as asthma, hayfever, eczema, and food intolerance, were routinely considered to be rare, non-fatal conditions primarily afflicting the cultured and civilized classes of Western society. Yet by the closing decade of the twentieth century, however, allergy had acquired greater medical, political, socio-economic, and cultural significance.