Melbourne Researchers have found a new treatment to put some children’s peanut allergy in remission.
The combination treatment developed by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute appears to be able to bring the allergy under control in approximately half of children who have it.
“We’ve shown that it provides a significant improvement in your quality of life,” Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Professor Mimi Tang stated.
Immunotherapy is the key component of this new treatment. It involves the gradual introduction and maintenance of probiotics.
Prof. Tang stated that the addition of the probiotic decreased the incidence of gastrointestinal side effects in children between the ages 1 and 5.
Two hundred children between the ages of one and 10 participated in the trial.
After 18 months, 51% of patients who received oral immunotherapy were in clinical remission and 46% of those who took a probiotic were.
They could eat any standard peanut butter without any restrictions.
Prof. Tang stated that this means the patient can stop receiving treatment and eat peanuts whenever they want.
Declan, nine years old, has had severe peanut allergies since he was just four years old.
He is now in clinical remission after he participated in the clinical trial and now eats peanuts every day.
Declan’s mother Kate Lawlor said that he now just needs his peanut M&Ms. He then heads off to another room, where I don’t feel like I need to be there. “He just has it and reports back that all’s well,” Kate Lawlor explained.
