I've actually spent quite a while pondering/researching whether allergies would be more or less of a problem with non-Earth-evolved biota.
Most (type 1) allergies are reactions to specific proteins, and if I'm positing alien biota don't use anything that can pass as Earth protein (which seems reasaonable - you need a carbohydrate-based biota to get free oxygen in the atmosphere on an Earthlike planet, but you don't necessarily need Earth amino acids), then the native biota, it seems like, *shouldn't* trigger allergies in humans.
On the other hand, that could be the equivalent of living in a hyperclean environment, and trigger more immune reactions in the humans. And on the third hand, it's possible that with exposure, human immune systems could learn to react with the alien proteins.
SF as a whole seems to be split on the question, and I've never seen a serious discussion of it by experts.
But, anyway, they'll definitely want some kind of anti-allergy drug - an adrenaline like epinephrine or an H1 antagonist like Benadryl, or both. Unfortunately I am having very little luck finding out how you *make* an H1 antagonist; there's always jewelweed and plantain, I guess.
The idea is that nearly all the planets being colonized have those conditions, so we want a basic kit of the stuff every colony ship carries. Most of them will have reasonably accessible and a good variety of mineral resources, though, and you always do a comprehensive mineral survey early on, while you still have aerial/orbital mapping capabilities. So anything that can be mined is there, and they have the know-how to extract most of it, yes.
no subject
I've actually spent quite a while pondering/researching whether allergies would be more or less of a problem with non-Earth-evolved biota.
Most (type 1) allergies are reactions to specific proteins, and if I'm positing alien biota don't use anything that can pass as Earth protein (which seems reasaonable - you need a carbohydrate-based biota to get free oxygen in the atmosphere on an Earthlike planet, but you don't necessarily need Earth amino acids), then the native biota, it seems like, *shouldn't* trigger allergies in humans.
On the other hand, that could be the equivalent of living in a hyperclean environment, and trigger more immune reactions in the humans. And on the third hand, it's possible that with exposure, human immune systems could learn to react with the alien proteins.
SF as a whole seems to be split on the question, and I've never seen a serious discussion of it by experts.
But, anyway, they'll definitely want some kind of anti-allergy drug - an adrenaline like epinephrine or an H1 antagonist like Benadryl, or both. Unfortunately I am having very little luck finding out how you *make* an H1 antagonist; there's always jewelweed and plantain, I guess.
The idea is that nearly all the planets being colonized have those conditions, so we want a basic kit of the stuff every colony ship carries. Most of them will have reasonably accessible and a good variety of mineral resources, though, and you always do a comprehensive mineral survey early on, while you still have aerial/orbital mapping capabilities. So anything that can be mined is there, and they have the know-how to extract most of it, yes.