Egg Allergy Immunotherapy

Tuesday, 05 December 2006 19:39

A two-year project working on oral desensitisation of seven children with non-anaphylactic egg allergy found the patients developed an increased tolerance to egg over time.

The children were initially assessed to determine their maximum tolerated dose of powdered egg, and then consumed this amount daily in their normal diet. Doses of egg were gradually increased until they reached the equivalent of one-tenth of an egg.  The children then continued to receive this 'maintenance dose' for the duration of the study.

After two years of this treatment, all the children tolerated a higher dose of egg than at the outset of the study, and more than would typically be encountered in an accidental exposure.  Most of the children could tolerate two scrambled eggs with no adverse reaction by the end of the study.  In those who did react, the reactions were less severe.

The full paper titled ‘Egg oral immunotherapy in nonanaphylactic children with egg allergy’ is available in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (published on-line ahead of print), or contact the Allergen Bureau for more details.