Peanut allergy: australian researchers announce a major breakthrough

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AFP

Thursday, 17 August, 2017 05:37

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Thursday, 17 August, 2017 05:37

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SYDNEY | australian researchers have announced a major breakthrough for people with peanut allergy, life-threatening, thanks to a treatment with probiotics that it could eventually become a cure.

In the course of clinical trials conducted by the scientists of the research Institute Murdoch children, Melbourne, in 2013, of children with peanut allergy had been administered probiotics with low doses of proteins from peanut for a period of 18 months.

At the conclusion of these tests, 80% of these children could tolerate the peanut.

Four years later, this research, published Wednesday in the british medical journal The Lancet attested that 70% of these children subject to the tests may still consume today peanuts without any adverse reaction.

“The importance of this discovery is that these children can eat peanuts as those who have no peanut allergy,” said Mimi Tang, lead researcher of the study.

“This proves that our treatment is effective in the long term, up to four years after completing it, it is safe”, added the expert. “It also suggests that the possibility of a tolerance is an achievable goal for the treatment of food allergy.”

The researchers said that the study of Murdoch provides “important evidence that a cure may be possible respect the peanut allergy”. According to Mimi Tang, “this is a major step forward in the identification of a treatment for food allergies in western societies.”

Food allergies affect one in 20 children and two adults out of 100, with the most prevalent being the reactions to seafood, cow’s milk, eggs, and peanuts.

Peanut allergy is one of the most common causes of anaphylaxis, a reaction of intolerance potentially fatal.