Allergy to lip
Can you be allergic to kissing? The question may seem absurd … Yet, the case would not be as rare as expected. But more than the act of affection or love, the culprits are drug or food allergens transmitted through saliva or lips.
Two teams of researchers Anglo-Saxon are interested allergies following kisses love or friendship. Most often, the culprits are food allergens.
1. A kiss to the nuts!
Foods containing peanuts and nuts are often the cause of severe or fatal allergic reactions. The accidental ingestions are fairly common, but cases of exposure to these allergens by kisses have been reported. ”We have recently been surprised by the number of allergy sufferers in our database who spontaneously reported such reactions,” says Rosemary Hallett and these colleagues in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine1.
Among the 379 subjects reporting food allergies to nuts or seeds, about 20 (more than 5%) spontaneously reported reactions occurred after a kiss, although the questionnaire which they have been submitted does not include any such request. All the people have to deal with potentially fatal allergic reactions …
Foods involved are peanuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, fish, pecans, peas, pistachios, macadamia nuts, etc..
2. The double effect Kiss … not cool
If the time between ingestion and the kiss from a few minutes to several hours, the effects of hugs do not drag! Allergic reactions usually occur very quickly, less than a minute after the hug.
Localized itching and swelling or hives on the area of the kiss, or difficulty breathing characteristics (wheezing) in four subjects are varied reactions … … The same authors report the case of a 3 year old girl kissed her on the cheek by his mother. Moments later, a large reaction appeared on the exact location of the kiss: urticaria, angioedema, severe respiratory difficulties, flushing … these same events have required the administration of epinephrine (adrenaline) in the emergency department of the hospital . In this case, the culprit would be a pea soup, with whom the child has never had direct contact.
Although most reactions have been observed as moderate, four people were reported bronchial spasms and a child’s life was even threatened …
According to researchers, “the possibility of an allergic reaction after a kiss is probably overlooked by most people with allergies. But the fact that 5.5% of our subjects have reported this type of personal information suggests that a percentage even more important to patients with food allergy are at risk. “ Scientists believe that “since a third of our subjects had reactions while dating, teenagers and young adults in particular should be informed about this mode of exposure to allergens. Patients suffering from Severe food allergies and age to have dating should be encouraged to tell their friends.