Abstract
Food allergy occurence has significantly risen in recent decades. The prevalence has reached 6-8% in children and 3-4% in adults.
Standard management has been strict avoidance, education and preparedness with rescue medication including an epinefrine auto-injector. Despite avoidance, severe reactions may occur due to accidental exposure of food allergen.
Food allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) has become an active area of research in recent years. Methods of AIT under study in humans include oral, sublingual, epicutaneous and subcutaneous delivery of native or modified allergenic proteins.
Immunotherapy relies ont the delivery of gradually increasing does of specific allergen to increase the treshold dose of reaction during the therapy and in some cases to achieve sustained unresponsiveness (tolerance). Oral food immunotherapy (OIT) is more effective than sublingual or epicutaneous AIT.
Currently, according the EAACI Guidelines, OIT is recommended as a treatment option to increase the threshold of reaction in children with perzistent cow's milk, hen's egg and peanut allergy from around 4-5 years of age.