Are allergies something new in our world? Could Cleopatra been allergic to cats? (I am)

I've read a great deal about Cleopatra (a good Macedonian girl), and don't recall every seeing anything about that.

We must keep in mind that allergies are caused by allergens and a lot of allergens known to our modern world did not exist during the middle ages or other eras in history. Also, many allergens are region specific. Certain grasses, weeds, and trees that exist here in the US couldn't produce allergic reactions to those over in Europe...especially when America hadn't even been "discovered" yet

Certainly allergies existed throughout the eras. During the Middle Ages Euphrasia officinalis (a small flouring herb found in Europe) was used in tonics and eye washes to relieve symptoms associated with allergies. A great many remedies came from herbs and those who knew the benefits of certain herbs very easily could be labeled witches simply by trying to help those who were suffering.

As for Cleopatra being allergic to cats...well one thing's for sure...we know she was allergic to snakes!

Thanks Dg and Georgia for your replies, but can we fix a date or a Century when "allergies" appeared in this world?

In my opinion, the best that you might get is finding the first reference to an allergy. Since people can be allergic to wool, cats, or cotton, that seems to imply that the earliest civilizations would have had those allergies.

In 1906, Austrian Pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet first used the word allergy to describe the strange, non-disease related symptoms that some diphtheria patients developed when treated with a horse serum antitoxin. The word comes from the Greek word 'alol', meaning, 'change in the original state'.

The above statement seems to imply that, in order to find the earliest reference to an allergy-type condition, you would have to read different descriptions of medical problems from the earliest sources of writing. Possibly the Old Testament has some people who had conditions which could have been allergies. We do know that Moses had a speech impediment, so finding an allergy in the Old Testament is not out of the question.