Allergy and Clinical Immunology

The rate of allergic diseases in children is increasing every year and more than 17 million people in Europe suffer from food allergy. The Impact of food allergy on Quality of Life is:

• Reduced general health perception, emotional impact and limitation of family activities

• Frequent accidental adverse reactions with pronounced effect in severe cases

• Risk of nutritional deficiencies

The only currently approved treatments are avoidance and administration of emergency medications on accidental exposure of allergenic food. The knowledge of the intensive treatment in the case of a reaction after exposure to the specific food is crucial. In the last years allergen immunotherapy for food allergy has been developed in reference centers with promising results, although the rate of adverse events places this technique in a balance between the achievement of desensitization/tolerance and the threat of adverse events. The aim of the lecture is to determine the technique performance, to know the different schedules and products used for egg, milk and peanuts immunotherapy and to also deduce use of unmodified and modified foods. The

other things to gain from the lecture are:

• To know the Biomarkers of desensitization/tolerance in food allergy

• To know the advantages and pitfalls of immunotherapy for food allergy

• To know the way to minimize the adverse events in the clinical practice along with increase of efficacy & safety of immunotherapy

• To know the concepts of desensitization/tolerance/sustained unresponsiveness

• To know the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology recommendations from the recent publications in the field