Peanut sensitization in a group of allergic Egyptian children

We consecutively enrolled 100 allergic children; 2-10 years old (mean 6.5 yr). The study measurements included clinical evaluation for site of allergy, possible precipitating factors, consumption of peanuts (starting age and last consumption), duration of breast feeding, current treatment, and family history of allergy as well as skin prick testing with a commercial peanut extract, and serum peanut specific and total IgE estimation. Children who were found sensitized to peanuts were subjected to an open oral peanut challenge test taking all necessary precautions.Seven subjects (7%) were sensitized and three out of six of them had positive oral challenge denoting allergy to peanuts. The sensitization rates did not vary significantly with gender, age, family history of allergy, breast feeding duration, clinical form of allergy, serum total IgE, or absolute eosinophil count. All peanut sensitive subjects had skin with or without respiratory allergy.Peanut allergy does not seem to be rare in atopic children in Egypt. Skin prick and specific IgE testing are effective screening tools to determine candidates for peanut oral challenging. Wider scale multicenter population-based studies are needed to assess the prevalence of peanut allergy and its clinical correlates in our country.The prevalence of peanut allergy is not sufficiently studied in many developing countries including Egypt. Peanut allergy was estimated to affect 0.8% of children and 0.6% of adults in the US, showing a twofold increase over a 5-year period [1,2]. A recent 11 year follow up survey showed that the prevalence of peanut allergy in children in the US in 2008 was 1.4% compared to 0.8% in 2002 and 0.4% in 1997 [3]. In the United Kingdom, the total estimate for clinical peanut allergy was1.5% of 3-4 year-old children [4]. Relevant studies estimated the prevalence of peanut allergy to be 1.34% among primary school children in a Canadian province [5] and 1.15% among 3 year olds in the Australian capital te