Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy

Why did the control group's allergy rate drop so drastically?

Because of the 2016 ASIA guidelines update.

What is ASIA?

ASIA is the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy.

Around the time this trial was being formulated, global allergy research was undergoing a seismic shift, largely driven by other landmark studies like the LEA trial in the UK.

The avoidance theory was dying.

Yes.

The evidence became overwhelming that avoiding allergens was exactly the wrong approach.

Okay, so let's talk about the signs and symptoms of a mild, moderate and severe allergic reaction in a young child.

So as you'll see on the screen, this is the ASCIA action plan.

And the red action plan is given to children that have an EpiPen and are deemed to have more likely to have a severe allergic reaction.

And the green action plan is for children that do not yet have an EpiPen and maybe the doctor has decided that they're not high risk enough that they need the red action plan and an EpiPen.

So one of our recommendations is that when we're introducing allergens into the baby's diet, that the food goes straight in the mouth, and we make sure that we don't get any on the skin at all, um, just to make sure.

But, um, we've just had, uh, ASCIA, which ASCIA is the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, and we've just had the ASCIA conference actually in Christchurch this year, which Christchurch turned on its best for us.

It was amazing.

And, um, so we had some really exciting information coming out of that.

So this is not a mom or dad decision or granny decision or dietician, um, decision.

If I see a child, um, I would like to start them or an egg ladder with, I will always run that past, um, one of my resident immunologists first because that, that could potentially, if you make the wrong decision, be a life-threatening situation.

But we know, and, and this, uh, several papers in ASCIA that was, were looking at this, that if we can get children, particularly with egg and milk allergies, onto an egg or milk ladder, that, that, um, there is greater chance that that food allergy will resolve earlier, and the younger the better.

So typically, so if they've just got low, uh, relatively low allergy tests, and we've got an okay, how the milk ladder or egg ladder works is they work on three factors.