As per a study conducted on infants younger than 12 months old, it was found that oral immunotherapy was quite a safer way to get rid of them.
The above study was conducted by Dr. Edmond Chan, who’s a senior author at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
He said this treatment is not only safe but also quite affordable, especially if the treatment accomplishes before an infant attains 12 months.
The above study is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology In Practice and patiently looked at the results among 69 infants among a larger study group of 452 children who aged five years.
What is Oral Immunotherapy?
Oral immunotherapy means when the patient is given a small quantity of allergenic food. The researchers gave peanut flour during their study and gradually increased the amount to a maximum level.
The aim of doing this was mainly to desensitize the child until they could have a full serving of peanut protein. But it was required that child must also continue to eat other peanut products for a long time.
During the course of study conducted by the researchers, children visited a pediatric allergist for nearly two weeks to receive their protein diet (peanut dose).
After the regular visits to a clinic or a nearby hospital, parents started giving daily dose. After a gap of 8 to 11 clinic visits, the infants built ‘”maintenance dose” of around 1.3 grams of peanuts.
It was revealed that as many as 42 infants managed to complete the build-up period along with one year of maintenance dose. Out of them no infant had to go through a severe reaction. Only a few had a mild reaction to a 4,000 gram of peanut protein.
This was as compared to 7.7% of children who aged between 1 to 5 and completed the given protocol.
Four infants experienced somewhat mild reaction. Even then, none of them required epinephrine injections.
This is what Dr. Chan had to say, “Despite infants showing the best safety, we were still delighted with the safety of this treatment for older preschoolers. The risk of a severe reaction is much lower than it is for school-age kids,” he said.
“Many of the interventions we use in medicine, such as medications or surgical procedures, carry a small amount of risk that is outweighed by the benefit. I’m comfortable with the risk if well-trained allergists and clinicians perform this treatment. It’s very safe.” he further stated.
The above treatment equally worked for the same aged groups of children. After they were given at least one peanut per day, they tend (80%) to develop a tolerance for 4,000 milligrams of peanut protein in a single shot.
The above research led by Dr Charles suggest that oral immunotherapy can be a quite effective alternative to avoiding abrupt allergens that even carry certain risks including anxiety, social isolation and poor quality of life.
He suggested children need to be given oral immunotherapy as soon as possible after a failed attempt of preventing food allergy.
The above study will definitely suggest some future clinical guidelines and also help healthcare providers with all the vital information they require for children.
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