Details
Story
- 3 year old Louise was helping her Mum bake a cake. She licked the cake mix and immediately developed swelling of her lips and an itchy rash all over. She had previously vomited after eating scrambled eggs.
- She did however love her Mum’s cakes and had eaten them many times before with not problems.
Medical review
- Children sometimes react to raw egg or lightly cooked (scrambled) egg but are fine with baked egg in cakes.
- Louise’s mother was advised to keep giving her a little egg-containing cake, although avoid raw and scrambled egg. She was given an antihistamine in case she had a further reaction. She was not prescribed an adrenaline pen.
- She was given her preschool MMR booster by the nurse at the GP surgery without any problems.
- Six months later she was seen in clinic again and now tolerating boiled and a little scrambled egg, although she was still avoiding raw egg.
Learning point
- Egg allergy is common in young children. Most children will outgrow the allergy, particularly if they tolerate baked egg and are allowed to continue to consume egg in this form. There is no egg protein in the MMR vaccine and it is safe to be given, even in children with severe reactions to egg.
Case Studies Details
- 27 Apr 2017
- CASE STUDIES