Babies with peanut allergies will be offered free oral immunotherapy in public hospitals under a new program being rolled out nationwide. Until now, there has been no routinely available treatment for a food allergy in Australia, and if successful, it will be rolled out to regional centres.
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00:00Nine-month-old Hunter Chatwin is weeks into oral immunotherapy treatment at the Royal
00:07Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
00:11After having an allergic reaction to peanuts at six months, he was lucky to be offered
00:16a spot in the country's first rollout of oral immunotherapy outside a clinical setting.
00:22Ten paediatric hospitals across five states in Australia have partnered with the National
00:27Allergy Centre of Excellence to introduce a first-ever nationwide standardised peanut
00:33oral immunotherapy program.
00:35So we've been introducing peanut to him every single day and it's been really good, luckily
00:41we haven't had any reactions so it's made me feel a lot better about peanuts in general.
00:46The treatment involves mixing small amounts of peanut powder with food and slowly increasing
00:51the amount over time to build tolerance.
00:54This is a slow process, we're having increases in dose each month at a level that shouldn't
00:58cause a reaction for that child, eventually to getting to a maintenance dose where they'll
01:03then stay on this dose for a total of two years.
01:06He says an allergic reaction is possible during the treatment, although it's usually mild
01:11in babies.
01:12It's a challenging process and needs to be carefully monitored.
01:16As part of this program, any dose changes, any delays in dose, the default is always
01:22to come back to the hospital for any dose that we consider to be a higher risk.
01:26The ADAPT-OIT program is available only to children under 12 months who have been diagnosed
01:32with a peanut allergy and are receiving care by an allergist at a participating hospital.
01:37The National Allergy Centre of Excellence will be evaluating the program and if successful
01:43it is hoped that it will be expanded across the country and potentially to other allergens
01:48and a broader age group.
01:50It's the first step in changing the trajectory of allergic disease in Australia.