Also another type of allergy which my sister had was to pet dander. This basically meant, if she held her guinea pig on her chest and he went up to her shoulder, and his face rubbed her, her skin would get all red and puffy. (she was also allergic like this to cats) The way around this was to give him a bunny bath every so often. Then she could hold him and cuddle him just fine, until his dander came back and he needed another one.
Here's a forum post on bathing guinea pigs, who really don't need to be bathed very often.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ggestions.html