title: Pediatric food allergy update.
abstract: Food allergy is mostly a childhood disease that differs from the adult-onset allergy in several aspects, including the prevalence, commonly offending foods, symptomatology, and prognosis. The prevalence is much overestimated by the public, but it probably affects up to 6% of children. In some cases, the diagnosis might be clearly evident, but in most cases an expert evaluation may be needed that usually includes verification by challenge testing. Currently, the management of food allergy is avoidance of the offending foods together with the availability of pharmacologic agents for symptomatic treatment, including self-administered epinephrine. The latter is of utmost importance in highly allergic subjects because accidental trivial exposure is not uncommon. Recent studies promise immunomodulatory agents that might be of potential use for prophylaxis. One such agent is anti-immunoglobulin E, which might be available in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Allergy/Immunology Section, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932, USA.
authors.forename: Shahid A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bangash
authors.forename: Sami L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bahna
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007223:Infant; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012648:Self Care; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007155:Immunologic Factors; D004837:Epinephrine