Peanut Oral Immunotherapy Protects a Young Captive in Gaza from Anaphylaxis

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is a widely accepted treatment for food allergy. It is recommended by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) 1 Pajno GB Fernandez-Rivas M Arasi S Roberts G Akdis CA Alvaro-Lozano M et al. EAACI Allergen Immunotherapy Guidelines Group. EAACI Guidelines on allergen immunotherapy: IgE-mediated food allergy. Allergy. 2018; 73: 799-815 Crossref PubMed Scopus (374) Google Scholar and an OIT peanut product was approved by the FDA 2 PALISADE Group of Clinical Investigators Brian P Vickery Andrea Vereda Casale Thomas B Kirsten Beyer George du Toit Jonathan O Hourihane et al. AR101 Oral Immunotherapy for Peanut Allergy. N Engl J Med. 2018; 379 (Nov 22): 1991-2001 Crossref PubMed Scopus (475) Google Scholar . While some patients gain sustained unresponsiveness, i.e. they remain desensitized despite lack of consumption of the allergenic food for an extended period of time, most will lose desensitization if regular consumption of the allergenic food is not continued regularly 3 Chinthrajah RS Purington N Andorf S Long A O'Laughlin KL Lyu SC et al. Sustained outcomes in oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy (POISED study): a large, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 study. Lancet. 2019; 394 (Oct 19): 1437-1449 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar . An OIT treatment center was established at the Shamir Medical Center in 2010, treating patients aged ≥4 years with various food allergies 4 Elizur A Appel MY Nachshon L Levy MB Epstein-Rigbi N Pontoppidan B et al. Walnut oral immunotherapy for desensitisation of walnut and additional tree nut allergies (Nut CRACKER): a single-centre, prospective cohort study. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2019; 3 (May): 312-321 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (64) Google Scholar .