If you’ve ever been affected by hay fever, you’ll know that suffering from allergies can be a thoroughly miserable business. However, for many people, allergies aren’t merely an occasional, unpleasant nuisance: they’re potentially life-threatening. However, the website www.dbv-technologies.com contains news of a possible breakthrough in diagnosing and treating food allergies, which are amongst the most dangerous allergies of all.

A whole raft of different foodstuffs can cause dangerous allergic reactions in humans: cod, lobster, scallops, crab, egg, peanuts and cow’s milk are just a few examples.

DBV-Technologies have been researching a non-invasive way of treating Cow’s Milk Protein allergy for some time now, and believe they have found the answer – the Viaskin patch.

The beauty of the patch approach is that it is easy to use with children, who are the main victims of cow’s milk allergy. Since it delivers the antigen in question to the body via the skin without breaking the blood-skin barrier, this method is painless. The body can therefore be slowly desensitized to the offending protein in a way that avoids causing children any kind of pain or distress.

Exactly the same approach has been taken using the Viaskin peanut patch and the house dust mite patch.