Allergies could be wiped out in a single blow by tricking the immune system into thinking it is encountering an old foe. The idea is based on the so-called “hygiene hypothesis”, the notion that the cleanliness of modern life deprives the immune system of a proper training against disease so that it ends up out of kilter and reacts to things that are harmless, such as grass pollen.
Cytos Biotechnology of Zurich, Switzerland, has developed a drug that it calls CYT003-QbG10, which fools the body into thinking it is being attacked by mycobacteria. This class of bacteria is encountered far…
