Children allergic to milk who were treated with oral immunotherapy concluded that although some children were better off with the treatment, long-term risk for future reactions raised concern, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
During the study, researchers followed32 children that were treated with oral immunotherapy over a period of three-to-five years after treatment completion. The immunotherapy, which involves repeated exposure to tiny amount of milk, is designed to "teach" an allergic child's hypervigilant immune system to ignore the food protein that sends it into overdrive. By the end of the treatment, all but three children had experienced some improvement and were able to consume some milk in their diet.
Follow-up revealed that eight of the children remained symptom free while 12 had frequent symptoms. Seven eventually ceased milk consumption including some who initially had been able to tolerate significant amounts of milk. Six children went to have serious reactions and three had to be injected with epinephrine.
Although many physicians and parents were excited for the promising study, the treatment is not quite ready to be put into effect and more in-depth studies need to be conducted.
“Our results are a clear ‘proceed with caution’ sign," says senior investigator Robert Wood, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “While we’ve been excited about this treatment, we also knew there were many questions that had to be answered. Our findings provide some of those critical answers."
The researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center said that the best approach for this type of rigorous research needs to be done as part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved protocol in a research setting.
Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shown an increased prevalence of food allergies in children under the age of 18 from 3.4 percent in 1997 to 5.1 percent in 2011.
