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SEATTLE – Licking a lollipop before giving it to your child could help prevent allergies, according to a study presented here at the 2018 annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
The parental sucking of the lollipop could transfer health-promoting microbes from one parent to the other, said Eliane Abou-Jaoude, MD, of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
She and her colleagues interviewed 128 mothers enrolled in the birth cohort of microbes, allergies, asthma, and pets (MAAP) in the Detroit area. Mothers were recruited in the cohort from January 2014 to August 2016, while they were pregnant. During recruitment, with the exception of some indoor dogs, the risk of allergy among participating families was comparable to that of the general population.
Of the 58% of mothers who reported that their child used a pacifier, 72% reported washing their hands by hand to clean it, 41% said they had sterilized and 12% had in their mouths to clean it. Mothers could choose more of a cleaning method than they used, but 74% indicated a single method.
The sucking of the parental lollipops was associated with lower levels of Immunoglobulin (Ig) E, which generally indicates a lower risk of allergy starting at about 10 months (P = 0.048) and lasting 18 months (P = .014).
| Table. Mean levels of IgE in children exposed to different types of lollipops cleaning | |||
| Cleaning method | not | IgE level at 6 months | IgE level at 18 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| By the mouth | 9 | 3,054 | 6.853 |
| Without mouth | 65 | 8634 | 109191 |
Cleaning a pacifier by sterilizing it with boiling water or washing it by hand with tap water did not affect the production of IgE.
This was a study of only 18 months, but the team plans to re-evaluate children in 4 or 5 years to see if they have developed allergies, asthma or asthma. Eczema, and to correlate those with IgE levels, said Abu-Jaoude. Medscape Medical News.
Will the frozen epinephrine autoinjector work?
Another presentation at the meeting evaluated whether an epinephrine auto-injector was still working if it was accidentally left on the outside and frozen.
Two investigators – Julie Brown, MD, of the Seattle Children's Hospital, and Alex Cooper, PhD, of the Seattle Children's Research Institute – compared 104 pairs of injectors from the same manufacturing batches. One of each pair was frozen for 24 hours and the other was kept at room temperature.
Once the frozen devices thawed, all were injected into marbled meat to mimic the human muscle. The meat samples and appliances were then weighed.
The weights were similar in both groups, indicating that frost did not affect the operation of the apparatus after thawing.
"Many people using the epinephrine auto-injector have expressed concern about the current shortage of EpiPens," said Anne Ellis, MD, chairman of the committee's Anaphylaxis Committee. ACAAI, in a statement.
"It is important for those who have a serious life-threatening reaction to trust the auto-injector that they carry and know that they will work in case of an emergency. This study has shown that even when an auto-injector has been inadvertently frozen, the risk is low and will malfunction, "she added.
The lollipops study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Henry Ford Hospital Fund. The study on epinephrine auto-injectors was funded by the Seattle Children's Anaphylaxis Research Fund and by a Summer Whitman Internship Grant. Abu-Jaoude, Brown, Cooper and Ellis did not reveal any relevant financial relationship.
2018 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI): Poster P252, submitted on November 17, 2018; Poster P400, presented on November 17, 2018.
Follow Medscape on Twitter @Medscape and Marcia Frellick @mfrellick
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