Cow's milk allergy in infants

Strictly speaking, allergy to cow's milk should only be diagnosed ii reprod ucible abnormal reactions are observed and are confirmed by specific reacti ons in immunological tests. In practice, diagnosis is usually based on reac tions following the consumption of cow's milk with or without immunological confirmation. If would be logical to describe cases with immunological con firmation as allergy and those without as intolerance to cow's milk. Howeve r, the possibility of cow's milk intolerance progressing to become an aller gy blurs this distinction. As for many other childhood allergies, the numbe r of cases of cow's milk allergy diagnosed is clearly increasing. Before 19 50, cow's milk:allergy was considered to be very rare. In developed regions , cow's milk allergy is now suspected to affect at least 10% of infants, an d has been confirmed in more than 5% of children. An estimated 0.4-0.5% of cases occur in children who were entirely breastfed before weaning. We bega n by studying replacement foods, providing efficient supplementation on the elimination of cow's milk from the diet. We are currently studying the mec hanisms of cow's milk allergy, which often begins when the child is very yo ung, possibly even during the gestation period in some cases. (C) 2001 Edit ions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.