1) Estimates from a skin test survey suggest that allergies affect as many as 40 to 50 million people in the United States.

2) Allergic drug reactions account for 5%-10% of all adverse drug reactions, with skin reactions the most common form.

3) Allergic dermatitis (itchy rash) is the most common skin condition in children younger than 11 years of age. The percentage of children diagnosed with it has increased from 3% in the 1960s to 10% in the 1990s.

4) Acute urticaria (hives) is quite common, affecting 10%-20% of the population at some time in their lives. Half of those affected continue to have symptoms for more than 6 months.

5) Contact dermatitis and other forms of eczema were diagnosed last year during more than 8.5 million office visits to physicians and during 499,000 hospital outpatient visits.

6) Atopic dermatitis is one of the most common skin diseases, partic-ularly in infants and children. The estimated prevalence in the United States is 9%, a number that appears to be increasing.

7) At least 40 deaths occur annually in the United States from reac-tions to insect stings. A severe allergic reaction known as anaphy-laxis occurs in 0.5%-5% of the US population as a result of insect stings.

8) Venom immunotherapy prevents systemic reactions in stinging insect-sensitive patients 97% of the time.

9) The average adult uses at least 7 different skin care products each day.

10) Studies suggest that up to 10% of the population may have some adverse reaction to a cosmetic item in their lifetime.

11) Fragrance is the most common cause of allergic cosmetic reactions.

12) There are more than 5,000 basic fragrances.