New treatment for nut allergy 治療堅果過敏的新療法

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學習要點

有關 “allergy（過敏）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What other type of food are nut allergy sufferers told to avoid?

文字稿

Fourteen-year-old Leia has a life-threatening nut allergy. That means eating or even touching some nuts could lead to anaphylaxis.

十四歲的萊婭患有可致命的堅果過敏癥。這意味著食用甚至是觸碰到一些堅果都可能引起過敏性反應。

Leia, nut allergy sufferer
I’ll get hives, normally on my leg. My lips will go really puffy. And my neck will go really red, and it would start to close up, and it’s hard to breathe.

萊婭堅果過敏患者
“我會起蕁麻疹，通常是在腿上。我的嘴唇會腫起來，脖子也變得通紅，然後氣管開始閉合，呼吸困難。”

But for the past three years, Leia has been part of a ground-breaking study here at Evelina Children’s Hospital.

但在過去的三年裡，萊婭一直在參與在倫敦伊芙莉娜兒童醫院展開的一項突破性研究。

Dr Helen Brough, Evelina Children’s Hospital, London
We were able to show, at the beginning of the study, that she was allergic to all these six nuts, but that she was actually tolerant of these five nuts, that she could then introduce into the diet. And we followed up Leia for three years, and after three years, she had actually outgrown her cashew nut allergy. And so she could then actually eat more nuts than what she was allergic to. And this is really important because most people who have a nut allergy diagnosis are told to avoid all nuts and also potentially sesame seed. So being able to introduce different nuts into their diet under medical supervision, we’re able to expand their diet, reduce dietary restrictions, reduce social restrictions, and we’ve also shown that it improves their quality of life by reducing their anxieties.

海倫·佈拉夫醫生倫敦伊芙莉娜兒童醫院
“在研究初期，我們能夠證明，她對這六種堅果都過敏，但她其實能耐受另外這五種堅果，因此她可以把這五種堅果引入到日常飲食中。我們對萊婭進行瞭三年的跟蹤調查，三年後發現，她其實已經不再對腰果過敏瞭。這樣她就可以食用更多種曾經讓她有過敏反應的堅果瞭。這個發現非常重要，因為大多數被診斷為對堅果過敏的人被告知什麼堅果都不能碰，可能連芝麻籽也不能食用。因此，在醫療監護下，我們能夠把不同的堅果引入過敏者的飲食中，從而擴大瞭他們的飲食范圍，減少瞭飲食限制，減少瞭他們因過敏而必須面對的社交壁壘。我們也證明瞭，通過減輕患者的焦慮感來提高他們的生活質量。”

Leia, nut allergy sufferer
I’m a lot more… like… confident, and… just, like, happier, because I can do more things.

萊婭堅果過敏患者
“我比以前要自信得多，也更開心瞭，因為我生活中的選擇比以前更多瞭。”