Pregnant women and new mothers are routinely urged to breastfeed their babies, partly because it’s thought to reduce the risk of allergic rhinitis (hay fever), asthma, food allergies, and eczema in children. Patient histories and testing revealed that while 53 percent of the siblings had a food sensitivity, only 13 percent had an actual food allergy, the researchers found.
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The allergist and and ACAAI fellow goes on to say, “Of the patients whose records we examined, there were no adverse drug reactions or evidence of recurrence of their penicillin allergy”.
The study included 1,120 siblings of children with a diagnosed food allergy.
Roughly 10 percent of Americans think that they have a penicillin allergy. There is also a risk of having false-positives from tests if parents provide their children with treatments even without a visible allergic reaction to food.
At the Annual Meeting, Dr. Solensky will present “Drug allergy: options beyond avoidance” where he will discuss options for patients who have drug allergies, as well as patients who have been told they have drug allergies, but do not.
“Too often, it’s assumed that if one child in a family has a food allergy, the other kids need to be tested for food allergies”.
“Anyone who has been told they are penicillin allergic, but who hasn’t been tested by an allergist, should be tested”, said Dr. Khan. However, all of these patients also had negative results in a skin test for penicillin, suggesting they were no longer allergic. “This perceived risk is a common reason to seek “screening” before introducing a high-risk allergen to siblings”.
The organization notes that eight foods are responsible for almost 90 percent of food allergies including cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat and soy. Our study showed that testing should be limited in order to help confirm a diagnosis, rather than as a sole predictor to make a diagnosis. In case penicillin allergy is really an issue, an allergist may work with the patients in finding a good treatment path. Without penicillin allergy one may benefit from affordable, safer and more efficient treatments. “Kids who have a food sensitivity shouldn’t be labeled as having a food allergy”.
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The study, which was recently presented at the ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting, indicates that children tend to respond to food allergies through vomiting or stomach cramps, shortness of breath, tightness in the throat, hives, wheezing, dizziness or fainting.
