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Question answered:31/01/08 Warning! this question is over two years old.
The Anaphylaxis Campaign has a section on their website aimed at GPs [1] and this includes the following:
"Outgrowing allergy
Common food allergies such as those to milk and egg are frequently outgrown. Peanut allergy is often lifelong. Up to 20 per cent of young children with peanut allergy outgrow it by the age of around five or six. Such children tend to be pre-school age and will probably have fewer other allergies or asthma than children whose peanut allergy persists. A challenge test may be considered if a child has an accidental exposure without having a reaction; or if a child’s last reaction was 3-4 years ago. This must be undertaken in hospital."
Great Ormond Street have a patient information leaflet on peanut allergy [2] and this states:
"Looking forward
If you haven’t outgrown your allergy by the age of five, chances are it will be life-long. Cases of people outgrowing allergy in their teens and adulthood are rare. A history of severe reactions usually means future severe reactions. Because peanut allergy is unpredictable, all reactions to peanuts, however mild, should be checked out. Some of the recent teen deaths that have occurred happened because the person had only ever experienced a tingling and itch so they never took it seriously."
Finally, you may be interested in the 2003 article “The natural progression of peanut allergy: Resolution and the possibility of recurrence.” [3]
References
1) http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/health_professionals/gps.html
2) http://www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk/teens/health/conditions/p/peanut_allergy.html
3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12847497
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