1.   Successful treatment of glue ear by attention to underlying allergic disease has been previously reported.

2.   Allergic disease is an ever increasing problem, with environmental causes taking a lot of the blame, especially industrial pollution and smoking.

3.   Allergic disease is not strictly hereditary, but often seems to run in families.

4.   A review of five studies that examined the potential link between vaccines and allergic diseases, including asthma, found some suggestion that certain shots increase the risk.

5.   But those who were breast-fed for less than one month or not breast-fed at all were most likely to have an allergic disease.

6.   New research from Finland shows that breast-fed children are less likely to develop allergic diseases than those who are not breast-fed.