Acute allergic reactions in Vietnamese children after drinking a new milk product.

Abstract In early October 2009, pediatricians in hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) reported an unusual increase in the number of children presenting with an acute onset of itchy rash and some with breathing difficulties shortly after drinking milk products. The pediatricians considered the illness to be an allergic reaction to milk. The objective of our investigation was to identify the cause of this acute illness. Following early case reports, all hospitals in HCMC were requested to report cases of this illness. Parents were advised to take children with symptoms to a hospital immediately. A case-series was conducted to generate hypotheses on the possible causes of the illness and was followed by a case-control study to test the hypothesis. Parents of all cases and controls were interviewed face-to-face. The association between food items and the allergy was tested using conditional logistics regression. From 9 to 28 October 2009, 19 cases fulfilled the case definition, and 16 of the 17 cases included...