MishpishCure for Peanut Anaphylaxis Likely in Five Years
June 20th 2008 01:56
Article originally from news.com.au "Days are numbered for peanut allergyz' By Will Dunham
appeared: May 03, 2008 04:04am
According the an expert in the US, there could be a form of immunotherapy that could get rid of a person's allergy to peanuts within five years.
Dr Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Centre in the United States wrote in The Lancet medical journal that a solution was on the horizon.
"I think there's some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years. And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now," Dr Burks said.
Ideally, such a therapy would change a person's immune response to peanuts from an allergic one to a non-allergic one, he said.
One approach was using engineered peanut proteins. Other approaches showing promise include the use of Chinese herbal medicine. Genetic engineering might also produce an allergen-free peanut, Dr Burks said.
But, he said, because several peanut proteins were involved in the allergic response, the process of altering enough peanut allergens would probably create something other than a peanut.
He said peanut allergy affects about 1 per cent of children under the age of five. He cited research showing the condition becoming more common - doubling among young children from 0.4 per cent in 1997 to 0.8 per cent in 2002 in one US study.
It is unclear why it was more common, he said. One theory was the "hygiene hypothesis", which holds that too little exposure to infectious agents in early childhood raises susceptibility to allergic reactions.
Peanut allergy often appears in the first three years of life, with the allergic reaction to eating peanuts ranging from a minor irritation to a life-threatening, whole-body allergic response called anaphylaxis.
Many children grow out of allergies to milk or eggs. Only about 20 per cent lose a peanut allergy.
Symptoms of peanut allergy include skin reactions such as hives, itching around the mouth and throat, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis, which is a medical emergency.
appeared: May 03, 2008 04:04am
According the an expert in the US, there could be a form of immunotherapy that could get rid of a person's allergy to peanuts within five years.
Dr Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Centre in the United States wrote in The Lancet medical journal that a solution was on the horizon.
"I think there's some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years. And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now," Dr Burks said.
Ideally, such a therapy would change a person's immune response to peanuts from an allergic one to a non-allergic one, he said.
One approach was using engineered peanut proteins. Other approaches showing promise include the use of Chinese herbal medicine. Genetic engineering might also produce an allergen-free peanut, Dr Burks said.
But, he said, because several peanut proteins were involved in the allergic response, the process of altering enough peanut allergens would probably create something other than a peanut.
He said peanut allergy affects about 1 per cent of children under the age of five. He cited research showing the condition becoming more common - doubling among young children from 0.4 per cent in 1997 to 0.8 per cent in 2002 in one US study.
It is unclear why it was more common, he said. One theory was the "hygiene hypothesis", which holds that too little exposure to infectious agents in early childhood raises susceptibility to allergic reactions.
Peanut allergy often appears in the first three years of life, with the allergic reaction to eating peanuts ranging from a minor irritation to a life-threatening, whole-body allergic response called anaphylaxis.
Many children grow out of allergies to milk or eggs. Only about 20 per cent lose a peanut allergy.
Symptoms of peanut allergy include skin reactions such as hives, itching around the mouth and throat, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis, which is a medical emergency.
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