Food Allergy Transmitted by Blood Transfusion
Friday April 27, 2007
A recent report of an elderly woman experiencing a severe food allergy to peanuts shortly after receiving a blood transfusion from a peanut allergic donor brings new concerns to the possible need to screen blood donors for food allergies. Allergic antibodies, present in the blood, can be transmitted through a blood transfusion, and potentially cause the recipient to experience that same allergy.
This phenomenon was actually described about 85 years ago by the researchers, using a similar technique. Blood taken from a person with fish allergy would be injected into the skin of another person, and then the skin over the area of the injection would then have a positive skin test for fish allergy. The reaction, termed the P-K reaction, was named after its discoverers, Drs. Prausnitz and Küstner.
It appears that this P-K reaction has now been taken a step further: The transfer of food allergy by means of blood transfusion. This raises new concerns for the possible need to screen blood donors for not only transmittable infections, but also for food, drug and venom allergies.
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Comments
its good to know as a student nurse that food allergies can be transmitted through blood transfusion..
I too have now developed a peanut allergy from receiving 6 units of blood during surgery 2 years ago. I have never been allergic to anything, and now am to tree nuts and several other food items
I developed air-born allergies immediately following my blood transfusion for anemia. I am 43 yrs. old and have never had allergies. I’ve never sneezed a day in my life until right after receiving two units of blood. Now, my family can’t believe how controled I am by these allergies! I wake up every morning from 3 to 4 a.m. with a sneezing attack; as well as my eyes being swollen and glued with junk every morning! I live with a kleenex box in my hand or at my side. I have place tissue boxes all over my house, including my car and purse. I live with a tissue in my hand day and night! I’ve been telling everyone that I KNOW I got allergies from my blood transfusion, as they began the day after. Nobody could imagine that could happen and so that’s why I did a google search, to find out if antibodies to allergens could be transmitted through the blood. When I found this website, I knew I wasn’t crazy! My life is consumed by my allergies and I feel as though I can’t function. I’ve never taken allergy medicine in my life, but it looks like I will have to….the rest of my life??? Please do research before getting a blood transfusion. I wish I had. I wouldn’t have gotten one since it wasn’t life threatening.
After receiving a transfusion I have become allergic to all kinds of things.
A scratch test confirmed I am allergic to 90% of things.
I get hives everyday, scratch myself & I swell-up.
I have an undiagnosed food allergy that is very severe.
This all started after my transfusion.
Since July, 08 I’ve had 2 surgeries for diverticulitis. The first surgery was performed within a couple of weeks after it was determined that I had a severe problem that wasn’t going away without surgical intervention. The second was at the end of January,09. During both surgeries I received 2 units of blood. I’m 61 years old and never got poison ivy even when family members who were doing outdoor things with me did…..until yesterday. This caused me to wonder about what within me changed……then I thought about the blood transfusions.