Good news! Allergy treatment really is improving. As The Washington Post reports in Cutting Allergy Shots, advances are being made in immunotherapy that uses isolated proteins that make up specific allergens.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published a study covering a new shot developed to desensitize people with cat allergies. Cat allergies affect about 10 percent of the population, and they play a major role in triggering childhood asthma. While standard cat allergy shots require weekly injections for at least a year, the new vaccine "uses synthetic versions of short peptides from the protein responsible for most cat allergies."

These peptides are 1,000 less allergenic than traditional cat allergen. This means that shots are much less likely to lead to an allergic reaction. In addition, the total treatment with this new cat allergy shot is only four doses. Stay tuned for future news about this allergy treatment, because the vaccine is in its final stages of development.