There is a lot of excitement in the allergy research community. Recent research into oral immunotherapy is showing that this approach could actually free people from the burden of food allergy.
Dr Wesley Burks, chief of the pediatric allergy and immunology division at Duke University, says that while the procedure is investigational, the results are showing real promise.
Even patients with extreme allergic symptoms, up to and including symptoms of anaphylaxis, have found extraordinary success with oral immunotherapy. One child, Reagan Roberts, who previously would vomit and gasp for breath if she had even a sip of milk, is now able to eat and drink as much dairy products as she wants.
Dr Robert Wood led the study that Roberts was a member of. His most recent work shows that within 4 to 6 months children with dairy allergy were already able to increase the amount of milk protein they could ingest. After a time period between 9 months and 2 years on the study protocol, about half of the children studied had been “cured” – they safely eat or drink milk products.
Oral immunotherapy involves a painstaking approach of ingesting an allergen over a prolonged period of time, beginning with minute amounts and very slowly working to larger and larger servings.
Researchers caution this is not a “self-treatment” option. Good results have only been obtained under careful clinical monitoring. In addition, the approach is still being perfected: in other words, reactions can still happen unless a carefully crafted protocol is followed, and even then, researchers are still learning what works best.
However, advancement of this kind in the field of food allergies is very good news for sufferers. Food allergy has been astoundingly resistant to other forms of treatment, which left people with little option other than rigorous avoidance of their allergens. At the same time, food allergies have become much more common. The onset is at a younger age and the persistence has lengthened. As a result, a child with allergies could no longer look forward to “growing out” of an allergy.
Source: The Baltimore Sun
