Oral Immunotherapy in Children with IgE-mediated Hen's Egg Allergy: Follow-ups at 2.5 and 7 Years

BackgroundThe present report was a follow-up investigation at 2.5- and 7-year intervals of a previous study of 20 children with moderate-to-severe immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated hen's egg (HE) allergy who received oral immunotherapy (OIT) with raw HE. The study design of the previous study divided the 20 subjects into two groups of 10 each: (1) group 1, the OIT group (OIT-G), and, (2) group 2, an age-matched control group (C-G). In that study, 8 of 10 of the children in the OIT-G were successfully desensitized, one child was partially desensitized, and desensitization failed in one child. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety profile of OIT with raw HE, and to assess the course and prognostic value of skin-prick tests (SPT) and serum-specific HE-IgEs in this study population.MethodsOf the 20 children who were recalled, 2 dropped out, which left 18 to be evaluated. Information on their HE intake was recorded, and SPTs with HE allergen extracts and with raw a...