Posted on 05/11/2023 4:18:16 PM PDT by billorites
An experimental skin patch is showing promise to treat toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts — training their bodies to handle an accidental bite.
Peanut allergy is one of the most common and dangerous food allergies. Parents of allergic tots are constantly on guard against exposures that can turn birthday parties and play dates into emergency room visits.
There is no cure. The only treatment is for children 4 and older who can consume a special peanut powder to protect against a severe reaction.
The patch, named Viaskin, aims to deliver that kind of treatment through the skin instead. In a major test with youngsters ages 1 to 3, it helped those who couldn’t tolerate even a small fraction of a peanut to eventually safely eat a few, researchers reported Wednesday.
If additional testing pans out, “this would fill a huge unmet need,” said Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, an allergist at Children’s Hospital Colorado who helped lead the study.
About 2% of U.S. children are allergic to peanuts, some so severely than even a tiny amount can cause a life-threatening reaction. Their immune system overreacts to peanut-containing foods, triggering an inflammatory cascade that causes hives, wheezing or worse. Some youngsters outgrow the allergy but most must avoid peanuts for life and carry rescue medicine to stave off a severe reaction if they accidentally ingest some.
In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment to induce tolerance to peanuts -– an “oral immunotherapy” named Palforzia that children ages 4 to 17 consume daily to keep up the protection. Aimmune Therapeutics' Palforzia also is being tested in toddlers.
France’s DBV Technologies is pursuing skin-based immunotherapy as an alternative way to desensitize the body to allergens.
The Viaskin patch is coated with a small amount of peanut protein that is
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
The Spartans would set their babies out in the cold for 3 days with nothing but a jar of peanut butter, if they could open it they could eat and live, if they had an allergy, they would die.
WHAT changed in the peanut farming that kids are suddenly so allergic?
GMO peanuts???
When I was a kid-—we used an entire loaf of Wonder bread to make sandwiches for school every day-—Peanut Butter & Jelly.
5 days a week...
NO SUCH THING AS A SCHOOL CAFETERIA
Good. So can we bring back the honey roasted peanuts on Southwest flights already?
School, military rations, every airline flight, every home, every vending machine, peanuts and peanut butter everywhere.
What changed?
You can’t stop the almighty peanut allergies. Whatever will the Karen mom’s have then?
Personally , I think it’s an immune response to the many early vaccines. Just my opinion and no fact to back it up. Just my gut instinct
In my grammar school, they had a mixture of peanut butter and jelly in a large pan. They would slop it onto bread for those willing to eat it. I never was.
You are a jerk! When my granddaughter was first tested for allergies, her back lit up like fireworks. It wasn’t imaginary, it was real. She’s 14 now and has been tested twice more hoping the allergy went away but it did not.
Does her mom expect everyone around her to change their habits or do they take responsibility for their own issues?
Both my Granddaughter and her Mother take full responsibility for the peanut allergy especially because they could come across people like you. Her life is too precious to rely on the goodwill of others.
I had the opportunity to be lectured by a mother who made her kid live in mortal fear of his peanut allergy.
He was 12 years old. I asked when his last reaction was and it was 11 years prior with no subsequent testing.
I told her of a New Zealand study which showed 90% false positives using the current test protocol. I then asked if they did the actual peanut test which entails eating a handful of peanuts in the hospital. If they’re a reaction it’s instantly dealt with. If no reaction…congratulations. You terrorized your kid for nothing.
She was demanding a complete peanut free environment among the 75 other kids I was leading at a youth organization.
I know of another woman who demanded the entire ingredient list for 18 meals being served at a weeklong summer camp for her kid for something he was allergic to.
She wanted the ingredients for the ingredients. She didn’t get the list.
I know of another situation where a parent demanded that youth leaders be fully legally responsible for treating her kids type 1 diabetes, including letters from her attorney. They said her husband needed to be at all events and she said he wasn’t competent but apparently a volunteer leader is.
One of my kids has Crohns Disease. When he was younger, we taught him what he could and could not eat. He always had extra good along with him if needed.
I’m sorry that your granddaughter has an allergy, however at the end of the day, that’s something for her and her family to deal with, monitor and control.
It’s not mine nor anyone else’s.
Just read the email. Tell “the jerk” that because of people like him my daughter didn’t go to camp. She did, at a very young age, take responsibility for her allergy and often did not participate in school parties, friends’ parties or even Halloween. She has been tested periodically, including with a spoonful of peanut butter, to see if her allergy is “real.” She is responsible for her own safety, as she should be. We don’t ask for special treatment, but you know, a little compassion or empathy wouldn’t be out of place.
If it’s unsafe for her to be at camp, the right decision is to not go. At the same time, I’m glad that her parents taught her to be responsible for her issue, even though it hurts sometimes. That’s a rare thing to do. The Karen’s among us prefer to make everyone else suffer for their particular malady.
I have been a youth camp director. Last year I had to tell a kid he could not come because of his health. The camp is very hilly and he was too obese to safely navigate the property.
He recently had sunstroke after just limited exertion and there was a significant chance of further injury or even his death.
That was a chance I was unwilling to take.
Many people claim “allergies” when they are really just preferences. As director, we can accommodate many true medically diagnosed allergies. We do not accommodate preferences.
At the same time, we cannot change the entire process for several hundred people to accommodate one person so the wise decision is to tell the one that they cannot participate. It’s a very difficult decision but it is often the correct decision.
I’m not without empathy, but when I’m responsible for hundreds of people, hard questions need to be asked.
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