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LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Four million people cannot tolerate one of the most common food allergies in the US. The allergy usually lasts a lifetime and for some, an accidental exposure can be fatal.
But Anabelle Terry is doing something that was unthinkable just a few years ago: eating nuts.
Her doctor told her to carry an EpiPen everywhere we went. At school she had to worry about other children who might have something with nuts in it for their lunch.
However, a recent investigation has given Anabelle and her parents new hope.
This study looked at preventing accidental ingestion, preventing anaphylaxis and making life a little easier and safer for food-allergic children.
The key is a drug originally designed to treat asthmatics.
The way Omalizumab or Xolair works is that it binds to your allergy cells and removes them from the bloodstream.
So, does it work?
Children who reacted to less than a third of a peanut could now tolerate more than two and a half whole peanuts without symptoms, according to experts.
Then the doctors started the second phase, and gradually the patient can start taking some of the actual nuts.
“I can live the rest of my life and I’ll be a little better than I was before,” Terry said.
As a result of the study, the drug received FDA approval in February for the treatment of severe allergies.
It can be used for patients from one year of age.
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