Can You Get a Food Allergy From a Blood Transfusion?

In a very rarefied case , an eight - year - old male child has developed an allergy to angle and nuts — foods that he used to be fine with — after receiving a blood transfusion during treatment for a type of brain cancer . Thecase studywas published in theCanadian Medical Association Journalthis hebdomad .

calendar week after the transfusion , the boy begin experiencing severeanaphylaxiswithin minutes of eat salmon , and then again after eating a coffee peanut butter cup , Live Science reports . Blood and skin prick test revealed that he was ( at least temporarily ) allergic to nuts and fish .

When people with food allergies donate blood products like plasm or thrombocyte , they might finish up channelise a protein called immunoglobulin E ( IgE ) , an antibody that reacts against allergen . This can delay in the blood product even after a month of store , and when it come across up with specific allergen , it causes the body ’s resistant cells to relinquish histamine and similar chemicals to stir up an allergic response .

But multitude with allergies are n’t really screened or barred from donating rakehell in Canada or in the U.S. For one matter , multiple events must come together for a recipient to develop a raw allergy this way , Scientific American explicate : The donor must have high levels of IgE antibodies , a square amount of blood mathematical product must be receive , and the recipient must be divulge to the specific allergen the antibody react against within a tight windowpane skeleton of a few months .

" It is very unusual to identify someone who see inactive transference of allergic reaction from rip products , " saysJulia Upton of the Hospital for Sick Children(known as SickKids ) in anews waiver . While rare , it can still leave in anaphylactic reaction to foods that were happily consumed ( or at least tolerated ) without triggering any reaction in the past . The symptoms — which can range from sudden fatigue duty to throat discomfort and facial intumescency — should be treated immediately .

Upton adds : " significantly , this condition has an excellent prognosis and typically resolve within a few month . " line tests uncover how the boy ’s IgE levels to salmon and peanut were insensible about five month later , Live Science reports . And by the half - year mark , his parents were able to gradually reintroduced screwball and angle back into his diet .