Successful peanut allergy desensitisation

Previously considered too risky, a peanut allergy desensitisation programme has been successfully trialled in the UK.

Desensitisation — a process where the patient is injected with increasingly large doses of the substance they are allergic to — is often used to treat allergies such as bee stings and hayfever. No trial for peanut allergies has ever been successful, though, because of the high risk of a catastrophic (and potentially fatal) anaphylactic reaction when the substance is injected.

In this case, the doctors put down their syringes and gave the desensitisation treatment orally — the children ate very small amounts of peanut. After a course of treatment where the amount of peanut given was slowly increased over time, children who previously had anaphylactic reactions to very small amounts of peanut could safely consume several peanuts at once. One child who had an anaphylactic reaction while being assessed at the start of the study was able to eat 10 peanuts by the end.

This was an initial trial with only four children participating (there’s a larger trial under way), but the results give hope to all of us who in one way or another are living with the risk of anaphylaxis always at the back of our minds. This is the first real breakthrough in the search for a cure for food allergies.

Needless to say, this is not something you should try at home.

Background

Food allergy is an increasingly common issue, due in part to greater publicity but also to an increasing incidence of reactions. Sufferers must strictly avoid all contact with the food to which they are allergic. In many cases this is very difficult, and special allergen-free food must be purchased.

In severe cases sufferers carry adrenaline auto-injectors (“Epi-pens”) with which they can inject themselves should a severe reaction occur. While relatively easy to use, these are expensive and have a short shelf life.

Support organisations are staffed by people with experience and knowledge of food allergies and are a good source of information and resources.

Seen at the Telegraph.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 1:03 amand is filed under Food, Wonderful things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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