Penicillin is the UKs most common allergy!

From pets, to foods, to metals; anything can be an allergen in today’s world. But what are the people of the UK most allergic to?

I think many people might assume it would be nuts or cow’s milk, so you might be surprised by the results of this recent study.

New research from William Russell has identified the most common allergies in the world’s most populated countries: https://www.william-russell.com/blog/common-allergies-around-world/

The most common allergies in 10 of the world’s highest populated countries:

Country	Most Common Allergy	Average Number of Searches
Philippines	Latex allergy	78,500
Canada	Penicillin allergy	35,300
United States	Dog allergy	33,100
United Kingdom	Penicillin allergy	8,100
Australia	Penicillin allergy	2,900
Romania	Cat allergy	1,290
Brazil	Cat allergy	1,140
Greece	Water allergy	1,020
Portugal	Cat allergy	790
Madagascar	Cat/Mold allergy	60

The top 5 most common allergies across the world:

The most common allergy worldwide is to dogs! Man’s best friend, followed closely by Penicillin. This really surprises me because I’ve only ever met a handful of people with a penicillin allergy and dog allergies don’t seem that common either.

Rank	Allergy	Global Average Number of Google Searches
1	Dog allergy	633,000
2	Penicillin allergy	561,600
3	Pollen allergy	513,900
4	Latex allergy	507,200
5	Cat allergy	419,400

According to the research:

• The most common allergy in the UK has been revealed to be the penicillin allergy. It saw an average of 8,100 searches between April 2021 – March 2022. According to the NHS, around 1 in 10 people suffer from an allergic reaction to antibiotics, citing penicillin to be the most common specific drug to cause such a reaction. However, it has been shown that penicillin allergies may be over-reported as they are commonly misdiagnosed when the actual cause is due to the passing side effects of medication.

• Pollen allergies are the most common in 39 out of the 100 most populated countries in the world, followed by latex allergies, which are the most common allergy in 19 of the world’s most populated countries.

• In terms of the most common allergies worldwide, dog allergies top our list, with around 633,000 annual Google searches, followed by penicillin allergies, with 561,600 annual Google searches.

You can see the full research here: https://www.william-russell.com/blog/common-allergies-around-world/

What are you allergic to?

I’d love to hear from all you penicillin allergics out there. Where are you? And are you allergic to something really uncommon and rare? Does your allergy cause anaphylaxis?

You may also be interested in the following:

• Allergen and Pollen Free artificial plants
• What is Super Pollen and Thunder Fever?
• Hay Fever affects half the UK population
• 20 things you can do to reduce your hay fever