Allergic to her husband

BBC News reports on the case of Johanna Watkins who has a rare disorder (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) that has caused her to become allergic to a whole bunch of stuff, including the scent of her husband. The allergy only developed after they got married.

At this point, they live in the same house but can no longer get close to each other. Instead they communicate via phone. Their "date night" involves watching a show together: "he will be three floors below me in a room on his laptop and I will be on mine and we'll watch the show at the same time and then text about it as we're watching it."

Scott and Johanna Watkins


This reminds me of the 1949 case of Joyce Holdridge, aka the "Allergic Bride," who broke out in a rash every time she was near her husband. She was the first reported case of a wife who developed an allergy to her husband. (I wrote a fairly long article about her for about.com, but it looks like about.com has since deleted it.)

After the Holdridge case, quite a few women came forward claiming to be allergic to their husband. So allergic wives are definitely a recurring theme in weird news. For whatever reason, cases of husbands who are allergic to their wives are much rarer (although not nonexistent).
     Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 17, 2017
     Category: Health | Marriage





Comments
They should get the kiss messenger. (News of the Weird, January 15, 2017)
Posted by Virtual on 01/17/17 at 09:26 AM
She's probably allergic to the silicone used in it.
Posted by PupTentacle on 01/17/17 at 12:50 PM
Say what you will, THAT"S TRUE LOVE!
Posted by KDP on 01/17/17 at 02:50 PM
There's also something called seminal plasma hypersensitivity, in which a woman has an allergic reaction to a man's semen. In some cases, the woman allergic to only certain men's semen (e.g. her husband's).
Posted by ges on 01/18/17 at 12:39 AM
ges, that had crossed my mind but I wasn't comfortable mentioning it.
Posted by KDP on 01/18/17 at 07:30 AM
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