Peanut allergy is a common disease and the cause of severe, life-threatening allergic reactions and death. It is rarely outgrown; most pediatric patients carry the disease into adulthood. Peanut allergy poses a significant burden on the quality of life of sufferers and their families, which results mainly from the fear of accidental peanut ingestion but is also due to dietary and social restrictions. Current standard management involves avoidance advice, patient education, and provision of emergency rescue medication. Immunotherapy, commonly used to treat other allergic diseases, has shown promise as a disease-modifying therapy for peanut allergy. Results from studies of oral immunotherapy show high efficacy rates, improvement in quality of life, and a good safety profile. Treatment may result in sustained unresponsiveness in a proportion of patients, whereas others require ongoing treatment.
Keywords: anaphylaxis; challenge; desensitization; immunomodulators; immunotherapy; tolerance.