Baby hospitalised after reaction to chicken

Medics are reporting that an eight-month-old baby boy presented to a Dublin hospital with the potentially fatal hypovolemic shock after suffering an adverse reaction to eating chicken.

According to medics at the paediatric department at the National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght, the baby was one of two babies to present at the hospital suffering from the rare Food Protection Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome.

The medics state that the syndrome is rare and is often misdiagnosed, where up to 20% of patients present in hypovolemic shock that can sometime prove fatal.

In the case report in the current edition of the Irish Medical Journal (IMJ), the medics report on the boy who presented twice in hypovolemic shock following acute onset on vomiting in the space of three weeks.

The admission followed the child’s then undiagnosed hypersensitivity to eating chicken that was part of a dish with vegetables prepared by his mother.

The baby was admitted to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit and after a battery of tests, the medics suspected FPIES and carried out food challenges for the baby to establish safe foods. The food challenge included chicken, carrot, and sweet potato. Two hours after consuming the chicken, the boy had severe vomiting and lethargy.

In the second case, a seven-month baby was admitted with a suspected infection in the urinary tract and doctors recorded the baby suffered acute vomiting after eating baby rice.

The medics suspected FPIES and the baby underwent a food challenge where doctors found the baby reacted similarly to oats.

Both babies recovered after being provided with IV fluids with the avoidance of the foods in question preventing a re-occurrence of the reaction.

In the report, the medics state that, “due to increasing awareness the number of solid food proteins reported to cause FPIES is rising. Cereals such as oats, barley, rye and vegetables such as squash, sweet potato, peas along poultry all may cause FPIES.”

The medics report that the most common foods that bring about FPIES are cow’s milk, along with soy, while rice accounts for 70%of solid food FPIES.

One of the co-authors of the report, Katie Cunningham said yesterday: “Both our babies did very well, and are followed up in our outpatients intermittently. Neither were admitted since their diagnosis as there were well managed at home through diet control.

“We believe GPs and paediatricians need to be aware of the condition and hence the publication in the IMJ which is read by the broad medical community.”