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Peanut allergy
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Allergy to peanuts is one of the most serious variants of the manifestation of the reaction of food etiology. Such hypersensitivity is difficult to treat, does not go with the years and can create considerable health problems. This reaction is especially common in childhood and can lead to serious complications.
[Causes of peanut allergy
An allergic reaction can develop when ingested peanut proteins - a kind of allergens that the immune defenses recognize as harmful and unnecessary to the body.
About a quarter of people have a strong reaction to any food. The most common reaction is the body's response to peanuts and products containing it. Such an allergy is usually not cured and persists for a lifetime, and is more often detected in those people who have a history of allergic manifestations to other foods or medicines.
The essence of the allergy arises in the development of sensitization of the body and obtaining the response action of protective forces on the repeated introduction of the protein-allergen.
The main reasons for the appearance in humans of a reaction to peanuts have not yet been studied. However, there is a scientifically proven fact of the possibility of transferring certain types of allergies by inheritance. More precisely, not the allergy itself passes, but a predisposition to it. When the father or mother has a tendency to any allergic manifestations, then the risk of the child to adopt this inclination is 50%.
The reaction does not show itself when the allergen first enters the bloodstream. Usually, repeated or even repeated administration of it into the body is required until a sufficient number of immunoglobulins are formed which increase the sensitivity of the organism and provoke the development of allergic manifestations.
Symptoms of peanut allergy
A real allergy to peanuts is manifested in the form of skin eruptions, angioedema angioedema.
Dermatoses accompany various degrees of itching, burning of the skin, there are problems with appetite and sleep disorders.
Significant and non-stopping nasal discharge complicating normal breathing, speaks of the development of an allergic rhinitis. Symptoms may include signs of bronchial asthma: cough, shortness of breath, pulmonary edema.
Less common are epigastric pains up to colic and increased sensitivity of the joints. Diarrhea, flatulence, dizziness may occur.
Unfortunately, often the manifestation of the clinical picture of peanut allergy ends with the development of anaphylactic shock - an immediate type of reaction that can occur within a few seconds after the allergen enters the blood. The person sharply turns pale, breathing becomes difficult, there is a sudden local edema of the body, pressing pain in the chest, a disorder of consciousness. In this state emergency medical care is required, since the likelihood of a fatal outcome with the development of anaphylactic shock can be up to 70%.
Diagnosis of peanut allergy
Before the diagnosis begins, the doctor carefully studies the history and history of the disease, clarifies the presence of a hereditary factor, identifies the clinical picture.
Of the necessary examinations, skin tests and a radioallergosorbent test are performed, with the help of which a specific cause of the allergy is determined.
Skin test is a test for the detection of an allergen, when the most probable types of allergens are introduced into the skin and expect a possible reaction. If there are signs of allergic dermatitis, then the skin test can be considered positive.
Radio allergosorbent test - has a slightly lower degree of informativeness and is performed if it is impossible to apply the skin test variant for any reasons.
The laboratory method, the patient takes a blood test and determines the content of antibodies-immunoglobulins in it. Suspected allergen with the help of sorbent is transferred to the blood taken from the patient. If antibodies are formed specifically for this allergen, then they interact and attach to the sorbent. This study takes some time, the result is known only after 1-2 weeks. The informativeness of this analysis is approximately 60-80%.
These are the most commonly used methods, much less often do they use the definition of precipitation type, the agglutination test and passive hemagglutination test.
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Peanut allergy treatment
Antiallergic therapy presupposes, first of all, the exclusion of the ingestion of this allergen into the body by any means.
In severe allergic reaction and the state of anaphylactic shock, injection injection of epinephrine (adrenaline), which has pronounced bronchodilator properties, prevents disorders of cardiac activity and the development of collapse. The condition of anaphylaxis requires mandatory hospitalization to control the reversibility of impaired body functions. In especially severe cases, emergency medical care is provided.
Uncomplicated course of the allergic reaction involves the appointment of antihistamines, which inhibit the activity of antibodies and facilitate clinical symptoms. These are medicines such as cetrin, fenistil, klaritin, kvamatel, parasitol, loratadine, ketotifen.
The use of steroid hormones can quickly neutralize the activity of neurotransmitters, relieves edema of tissues and reduces the severity of other manifestations of allergies. Ointments containing corticosteroid hormones are used in the treatment of allergic dermatoses.
Also, treatment is complemented by the reception of funds that strengthen immunity, vitamins, microelements, probiotics.
Prevention of peanut allergy
The main point of prevention and further favorable prognosis of the organism's allergic sensitivity is the exclusion of ingestion of peanuts, peanut butter and other products containing this allergen. In order to protect yourself from taking dangerous products, you must constantly carefully check the food you eat, be interested in their composition, read labels in stores. Particular care should be taken in places of catering, do not hesitate to ask the cook or waiter about the presence among the ingredients of peanuts. If you are not sure about the safety of some products, do not take them for food. Especially it concerns various baking, ice-cream, chocolate and confectionery products, sauces, dressings.
It is always necessary to be prepared for any unforeseen situations associated with the emergence of food allergy symptoms. In the medicine cabinet of every person suffering from any manifestations of hypersensitivity of the body, there should be suitable antihistamines, as well as emergency medicine to prevent the development of anaphylactic shock. And otherwise - a healthy lifestyle, rational nutrition with an abundance of fruits and vegetables, tempering the body are the best preventive means against allergies and to stimulate the body's immune forces.
The presence of hypersensitivity to certain proteins in foods does not mean the inability to live a full life.
Let you can not influence such a diagnosis as an allergy to peanuts, but it is quite possible to prevent the development of the food reaction.