Eosinophilic colitis due to cow's milk allergy. Report of nine cases

Eosinophilic colitis is one of the clinical manifestations of allergy to co w's milk during the first year of life. We report a series of 9 infants who , under 9 months of age and while clinically well, presented rectal bleedin g of variable magnitude, with or without diarrhea, shortly after a cow's mi lk-based formula was initiated (n=6); yet, 3 cases received only breast fee ding. Bleeding disappeared in all patients after milk withdrawal from the d iet. Challenges were planned after 12 months of treatment; three patients h ave not yet reached this moment, 3 had a negative challenge at 12, 18 and 2 8 months of age and are on a complete diet, and 3 are still on cow's milk f ree diet because ingestion of milk at 12, 18 and 25 months still induced re ctal bleeding. This series of patients gathered in 3 years, follows the tre nd reported in many countries that there is a relative increase of patients diagnosed with allergy conditions early in life.