In one study, 70% of children with egg allergy could tolerate baked egg¹

Meet Thomas. Thomas is 17 and was diagnosed with moderate persistent asthma at the age of 5. After eating several bites of his mom’s omelette when he was 2 years old, Thomas experienced difficulty breathing, itchy mouth and swollen lips. He was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for anaphylaxis. While at the hospital, a presumptive diagnosis of egg allergy was made. Thomas’ mom was told to avoid all forms of egg. No allergy testing was performed at this time.

Despite his egg allergy diagnosis, Thomas didn’t want to seem abnormal to his friends, so he rarely mentioned his allergy or carried his epinephrine auto-injector. Now in his teenage years, he is often less careful when reading food labels.

Because he did not take his allergy seriously, Thomas’ physician suggested to his mother that he take an egg component test.

His doctor told her that the blood test results could help reinforce the seriousness of his egg allergy diagnosis by showing him the specific proteins he is sensitised to.¹

Thomas’ egg component tests revealed that he was highly sensitised to ovomucoid and had a high risk of systemic reaction to all forms of egg. His doctor explained to him that his sensitisation to ovomucoid meant he was allergic to egg in all forms.

The egg component tests helped his doctor reinforce the importance for Thomas to avoid accidental or purposeful ingestion of eggs and products containing eggs. This knowledge also helped him reinforce his recommendation for Thomas to always carry his Epinephrine auto-injector.

1. Lemon-Mulé H, Sampson HA, Sicherer SH, Shreffler WG, Noone S, Nowak-Wegrzyn A. Immunologic changes in children with egg allergy ingesting extensively heated egg. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;122(5):977-983.