why can the lungs be severely allergic to water, but no other organ can be allergic to water?

How tiny? Like a drop?

a teaspoon worth or two.

I do a ton of snorkeling, an I get water in my lungs sometimes. A bit of coughing and it comes up.

your lungs obviously aren't allergic to water then.

Inflammation regulation in the guy was f'd. Probably the response to the water triggered an asthma attack or the water contained a toxin/allergen.

Because air.

This is my guess as well. Do you know how the bronchus was effected? Any swelling there due to the response?

his tongue, airways and lungs were all really swollen.

what about air? we're talking about water..

Is this truly perplexing you?

it's 5 am here, whats air got to do with it?

Water and air are two different things. The lungs only know how to deal with one of those, as do gills. If you want to be under the water, have good bi-pedal developed tech.

Is this thought keeping you awake at night?

no lol i'm just bored

Most people around here ponder the meaning of life, ancient civilization or the universe and of course politics.

But you, ponder this.

Somehow that is admirable.

It's just weird how something you need to live, and something so chemically inert could kill you in tiny amounts like this.

I mean, I heard of Aquagenic Urticaria, but that doesn't involve the immune system, so it's technically not an allergy. I was surprised to see you can have an allergic reaction to water in your lungs

Because the lungs are the only organ that involves the absorption of oxygen through a membrane as a primary keeper of life.

Water on that membrane stops that oxygen intake with the resultant death of the being.

Sort of a necessary feature I would think.

Stay well

Thought I cleared this up last night

I don't mean drowning, I mean inhaling a tiny amount of water and the immune system of the lungs freak out causing the lungs, airways and tongue to swell up to dangerous levels.

A tiny amount that in itself is harmless and wouldn't affect breathing, but the immune reaction to it is what kills you.

You need a trip to gitmo, you will understand after that.

train ur lungs to seperate oxygen from h20 and you won't be "allergic" to water. i just called it drowning

water and air are only different with a h2

No such thang as being allergic is water. He may have been allergic to chemicals or some such water? Aquagenic urticaria is the closest thang and it's skin related. I me think about it? If you had a water allergy you would have killed yourself your crying session as an infant or while in the womb surrounded by 70% water.

according to what I read, it's the water itself, not chemicals in the water. Aquagenic Urticaria is not immune mediated while secondary drowning is an immune response to water, which to me makes it closer to having an allergic reaction to water since the symptoms are nearly the same (lung, throat, tongue swelling, etc).

Which is then not an allergy... be careful getting your info from wiki.

inappropriate/dangerous immune response to something harmless (in this case a tiny amount of water) from outside the body is called an allergic reaction