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Article: Treatment may be on way for peanut allergies: ; Preliminary results show giving kids tiny amounts over time decreases allergy
- Article from:
- Charleston Daily Mail
- Article date:
- March 16, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON - Scientists have the first evidence that life-
threatening peanut allergies may be cured one day.
A few kids now are allergy-free thanks to a scary treatment -
tiny amounts of the very food that endangered them.
Don't try this at home. Doctors monitored the youngsters closely
in case they needed rescue, and there's no way to dice a peanut as
small as the treatment doses required.
But over several years, the children's bodies learned to tolerate
peanuts. Immune-system tests show no sign of remaining allergy in
five youngsters, and others can withstand amounts that once would
have left them wheezing or worse, scientists reported Sunday.