Main Category: Allergy
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Food allergy remains a highly charged, emotional, and misunderstood issue in the world of healthcare. Just this month, a school in Florida implemented draconian measures to protect a first grade student who has been diagnosed with peanut allergy. The school now requires students to wash hands and rinse mouths after lunch, outlaws peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and has even hired a trained dog to sniff out peanut violators.
"Component testing has done for me and my patients what the Hubble Telescope did for astronomy"
Yet, many patients who are diagnosed with food allergies do not have severe anaphylaxis-producing food allergies. For example, in peanut allergy, based on the current literature available, the protein Ara h 2 appears to be one of the key culprits in producing anaphylaxis. Sensitization to some other proteins within the peanut may be less likely to be associated with a severe reaction to peanut.
Today, at the 2011 Annual Meeting of The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), Phadia, the world leader in in vitro allergy diagnostics, continues to demonstrate how the use of ImmunoCAP Molecular Allergy test results can drive improvements in the diagnosis and management of food allergy.
David Esposito, President and General Manager of Phadia US, said, "Molecular allergy testing represents the future of in vitro allergy diagnostics. By using this technology, allergy specialists can differentiate between symptoms caused by true allergy and symptoms caused by cross-reactivity, assess the clinical risk for mild and severe reactions, and select patients for targeted immunotherapy."
At the AAAAI annual meeting, Phadia will be demonstrating three case studies that show the benefit of Molecular Allergy test results in the clinical setting:
- "Jake", a 12 year old boy who had itching around his mouth after eating certain foods. By using ImmunoCAP Molecular Allergy test results, Jake's allergist was able to zero in on a specific molecular component found in apples, peaches, hazelnuts, soy, peanut, celery, kiwi, and carrots. The doctor was also able to reassure Jake's parents that the boy could safely eat any of those foods in cooked form; and that the extent of his reaction in the event of an accidental exposure to uncooked allergens would likely be a local reaction and confined to "itchiness".
- "Birthday boy", the story of a 7 year old boy who had uncontrolled eczema and multiple food allergies including egg, peanut, and soy. As the boy's allergist followed his case over the course of several years, he noticed a continued reduction in his specific IgE to the egg antigen. ImmunoCAP Molecular Allergy test results revealed that the boy's egg allergy was limited to albumen and conalbumen, but not ovomucoid (egg white), which meant that the boy could safely tolerate baked goods that contained egg. Later that year, the boy was able to enjoy his first birthday cake. "Component testing has done for me and my patients what the Hubble Telescope did for astronomy," the boy's doctor remarks.
- "The contrarian", a patient who had never had adverse reactions to peanuts, but who nevertheless had undergone skin prick testing which was strongly reactive. The doctor suspected seasonal allergy to tree pollens and ragweed, which are cross-reactive with peanut and are often misdiagnosed as peanut allergy. Based on ImmunoCAP Molecular Allergy tests, the allergist was able to determine the patient could tolerate peanut and tree nuts.
Allergen components are available in Europe and are being widely utilized. Phadia introduced ImmunoCAP Molecular Allergy in the United States in 2010. The number of allergen components cleared in the U.S. is limited. Additional allergen component test results are available to allergy and immunology specialists through the Phadia Immunology Reference Laboratory (PiRL) as laboratory-developed test results. The company is working with the FDA on its 510(k) submission on a range of allergen component tests in 2011.
By utilizing allergen component test results, allergists can identify a patient's sensitization pattern to specific protein components of allergens. Mr. Esposito continued, "We invite all attendees at the 2011 AAAAI Annual Meeting to visit Phadia to learn about how allergists are improving their patients' quality of life with these next-generation tools for in vitro allergy diagnosis."
Source:
Phadia
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