BACKGROUND Peanut allergy creates the risk of life-threatening anaphylaxis that can disrupt psychosocial development and family life. The avoidance management strategy often fails to prevent anaphylaxis and may contribute to social dysfunction. Peanut oral immunotherapy may address these problems, but there are safety concerns regarding implementation in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE The purpo...

Background Although studies suggest underuse of epinephrine in food related allergic reactions, it is not clear whether treatment may differ over time in those who have already had an allergic reaction. We sought to characterize treatment of the most recent allergic reaction to peanut versus the initial allergic reaction. Materials and methods Individuals with an allergist-confirmed peanut alle...

BACKGROUND In peanut and tree nut allergic children a history of anaphylaxis is associated with subsequent severe reactions. OBJECTIVE We aimed to prospectively rechallenge peanut and tree nut allergic children with a history of mild/moderate reactions to assess their allergy over time. METHODS In this cohort study peanut and tree nut allergic children with a history of mild/moderate reacti...

Food allergies, and peanut allergy in particular, are leading causes of anaphylactic fatalities worldwide. The immune mechanisms that underlie food allergy remain ill-defined and controversial, in part because studies in humans typically focus on analysis of a limited number of prototypical Th1/Th2 cytokines. Here we determine the kinetics and prevalence of a broad panel of peanut-driven cytoki...

Emerging data suggest that measurement of serum IgE to peanut components can be clinically helpful and more accurate than IgE to whole peanut to predict peanut allergy. Not all studies have used prospective samples, multiple components and oral challenges. Currently, there are no data on this topic involving Italian children. 32 patients (23 males; median age 9 years) with reported history for ...

Food allergy in children is increasing and the perception of food allergy among parents is even more common. In a questionnaire-based study of 702 children aged 6 to 48 months in four primary care settings, the aim was to determine the prevalence of perception vs. proven food allergy, parental anxiety and general pediatrician knowledge of food allergy. In 95/702 children (13.5%) parentally-repo...

BACKGROUND Peanut allergy is characterized by increased levels of peanut-specific IgE in the serum of most patients. Thus, the most logical therapy would be to inhibit the IgE production by committed B-cells. This study aims to investigate the unreported anti-IgE effects of Chinese herbal extracts of Rubia cordifolia (Qiancao) and Dianthus superbus (Qumai). METHODS Seventy herbal extracts wer...

To the Editor: Although there is unanimous agreement that epinephrine is the first-line treatment for anaphylaxis, many with food allergy have not been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector (EAI). As part of our nationwide Canadian study on the prevalence of food allergy, households from the 10 Canadian provinces were randomly selected from the electronic white pages and were telephoned betwe...

BACKGROUND Peanut allergy is increasing in prevalence due to unknown factors. A growing body of clinical evidence suggests sensitization to peanut occurs through the skin, supported by findings in mouse models. There is a need to identify environmental factors that promote epicutaneous sensitization to peanut. Triclosan is an antimicrobial found in household products that has been associated wi...

Food allergy results from failure in oral tolerance that usually occurs in infancy or early childhood. Exposure to peanut and hen's egg via the inflamed and disrupted epithelial barrier in children with severe atopic dermatitis is a risk factor for the development of allergy to these foods and supports the hypothesis that epicutaneous exposure in the absence of oral feeding is an important path...