Blood products and food allergy
Question:
12/28/2017
Is there any restrictions in blood products in a food allergic individual? I have a patient going for surgery with a shellfish allergy. His father has donated blood and consumed shellfish on the day of donation. As long as they use washed packed red blood cells and not serum, I presume he should be fine. Would you mind weighing in?
Answer:
The risk of an allergic reaction to blood products based upon passive transfer of food allergen from donor to patient is very low. A case report was published (1) in 2011 that described this occurring in a peanut allergic child. It raises the question of whether additional transfusion reactions may be due to this phenomenon, but again, the risk for your patient is very low and I would not suggest any specific precautions.
1) Jacobs, JFM, et al. Anaphylaxis from Passive Transfer of Peanut Allergen in a Blood Product, N Engl J Med 2011; 364:1981-1982
Hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Daniel Jackson, MD FAAAAI