Duke University scientists may have cured life-threatening peanut allergies in a small cohort of children by exposing them to miniscule amounts of the very food that caused the problem in the first place. 

With continuous clinical supervision and all necessary emergency resources on hand, the scientists had severely affected kids swallow tiny amounts of a specially prepared peanut blend and then increased the dose until they observed a minor reaction.

They then sent the kids home on a daily dose just below that amount–typically the equivalent of a thousandth of a peanut–and gradually increased the dose over 8-10 months.

After that, the scientists maintained the dose for an additional 18 months. And then, finally, they exposed the kids in a controlled environment to actual peanuts, and voila, no reaction! 

Subsequently, the scientists told the kids to stop daily treatments for a month, after which time the kids popped peanuts in a controlled environment once again. Nothing happened clinically, and immune testing revealed no signs of residual allergy.

The coast seemed clear.

“We’re optimistic that (the kids) have lost their peanut allergy,” said lead researcher, Wesley Burks. “We’ve not seen this before medically. We’ll have to see what happens to them.”

Randomized controlled trials of the desensitization technique are underway.

Peanut allergy is considered to be the most dangerous food allergy, in that exposure to trace amounts of peanuts can prompt life-threatening reactions. It is responsible for a majority of the 30,000 ER visits 200 deaths per year that are chalked up to food allergies.

Peanut allergy affects 1.8 million people in the US.

Burks’ team released results of its pilot study at a conference of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

The chairmen of 13 clinical departments at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center agreed last week to donate $350,000 to help reduce the need for staff layoffs.
 
“This was a really easy decision,” Mary Ann Stevenson told the Boston Globe.

The Radiation Oncology chair added, “most of us have been longtime campaigners for the hospital. Most of us feel really strongly about where we work.”

And they’ve appealed to their physician colleagues and reports who are affiliated with the hospital to follow suit.

“We invite you to consider making as generous a contribution as possible,” the chiefs penned in a letter to 1,100 staff physicians that was obtained by the Globe. Donated funds “will support job preservation among the hospital staff (so) they can continue to provide great service to our patients.”

Beth Israel Deaconess is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. It announced last month that it faced a $20 million operating loss for the fiscal year, and planned to enact cost-reducing moves including RIFs as a consequence.

After that announcement, hospital CEO cum blogger extraordinaire Paul Levy began working with employees on money saving, job preserving ideas.

That let BIDMC reduce the number of layoffs from 600 to 150.

The ideas included a temporary halt in funding employees’ 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans, suspending a planned 3% salary increase for certain employees, eliminating the annual employee barbecue and ending hospital reimbursement for staff cell phones.

In addition, Levy has cut his own pay by 10%, and that of his executive staff by 5%.

Hospitals across the country have seen patient volumes drop as the Great Economic Crisis prompts people to defer elective procedures. Inpatient volume at BIDMC is off 1% this year.