Oral immunotherapy effective in controlling peanut allergy in children

Peanut allergies can be fatal if left untreated and are the most common cause of severe allergic reactions, called anaphylaxis, and one of the most frequent causes of death from food allergy. About 3 per cent of babies have a peanut allergy.

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal, found after 18 months of treatment, 46 per cent and 51 per cent of children who received the combination treatment or the oral immunotherapy alone. Both treatments also led to a significant improvement in quality of life, with those children who achieved clinical remission experiencing the biggest improvement, greater than those who only achieved desensitization.

Researchers have discovered two peanut allergy treatments for children that are both highly effective at inducing remission. They found the treatments i.e a combination of a probiotic together with oral immunotherapy (the gradual introduction of the allergenic food) and oral immunotherapy alone significantly induced remission and desensitization.