This is an important development
for those who have this dangerous allergy.
They have shown that a regimen that uses a slow increase in exposure in
combination with chocolate is able to increase ones ability to consume peanuts
a thousand fold. I still think that one
would not be eating peanut butter sandwiches, but that the occasional nut in a cookie
may be well tolerated and plausibly enjoyed.
Previous efforts at desensitization
had been disappointing. This is very
good news for sufferers and should be soon readily available in the form of chocolate
consumables.
The important thing for sufferers
is to mitigate the risk so that accidental injection does not mean a desperate
trip to the emergency ward. This clearly
meets that particular need and will relieve care givers of the extra precautions
that have become necessary.
Study shows new peanut allergy treatment works
18 March 2011
Allergy experts at the University
of Cambridge
The trial, from the group of Dr Pamela Ewan of the Department of
Medicine and conducted at Addenbrooke's Hospital, involved a careful regime
of feeding chocolate containing peanut flour in gradually increasing doses to
patients with severe peanut allergies.
Following on from a small clinical trial conducted in 2009, the allergy
team carried out a larger trial involving 22 children.
Before beginning the treatment, the children involved in the study
reacted to tiny amounts of peanut. After treatment, 19 of 22 children were able
to eat five peanuts a day; two had partial success - eating two to three
peanuts a day; and one dropped out of the study at the start.
Dr Andrew Clark, who led the clinical trial, said: "This is the
first time that a peanut allergy study has shown such a high level of success
and proves that it is possible for peanut allergic patients to eat peanuts
without fear of a severe reaction."
The children and teenagers attended the hospital's clinical research
facility to undergo the desensitization treatment, which still proved effective
six months on.
Peanut allergy is common, affecting between one and two percent of
young children and can cause severe or even fatal reactions. There is currently
no satisfactory treatment. The diagnosis has a major impact on families,
because of the fear of a severe reaction and anxiety in making food choices.
"The lives of the families involved in this trial have been
transformed," said Dr Clark
. "The amount of peanut that could be tolerated by the children
and teenagers on this trial increased 1000-fold."
Studies of peanut immunotherapy from other centres, using different
regimes have been less successful. The Cambridge
"This treatment could drastically improve the lives of those
currently suffering with severe peanut allergies," said Dr Maher Khaled of
Cambridge Enterprise
The findings are published today, 18 March, in the journal Clinical and
Experimental Allergy. The study was supported by a grant from the Evelyn Trust,
and further work is supported by the National Institute for Health Research.
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