Oral immunotherapy may not be a cure

An oral immunotherapy regimen can help take the sting out of severe peanut allergies, reported investigators here.

Five of seven children with severe peanut allergy were able, after two years of immunotherapy, to tolerate a dose of 7.8 grams of peanut flour, equivalent to eating more than 13 peanuts, reported Scott David Nash, M.D., of Duke in Durham, N.C., and colleagues.

Yet while oral immunotherapy can desensitize patients to peanuts, children who undergo it may not be in the clear, cautioned the authors in a featured poster session at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology here.

"We think that our patients are now at decreased risk for anaphylaxis if they have accidental ingestion [of peanuts], but we're not recommending that our patients reintroduce peanuts into their diets, and all patients were on peanut-elimination diets during the study," said Dr. Nash.

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