ABSTRACT
Eighteen million Americans are allergic to the fecal matter and dead body parts of the common dust mite (10 of which can fit in the period of this sentence). Dust mites are the number one allergen found indoors, followed by cats and dogs, then cockroaches and mold. Allergies tend to run in families, and “hay fever season” can actually include spring, summer or fall depending on geographic location. They cannot be avoided by going to Arizona. Early in 1995, New York City adopted a ban in most of the city’s restaurants. Smoking is allowed only in restaurants that seat fewer than 35 people, in separate bars of larger restaurants, or in stand-alone bars not part of a larger building. Initial symptoms include general physical discomfort (malaise) and muscle pain (myalgia) followed by fever, chest pain, shortness of breath, vomiting, headache, weight loss, diarrhea, coughing, recurrent chills and abdominal pain.
