Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks allergies as the fourth most common chronic disease. Food allergie, defined as adverse immune reactions to food proteins, is an important public health problem that affects adults and children and may be increasing in prevalence.
The aim of our study is to present the biological profile of children consulting for food allergy problems.
Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive study, spread over a period of 29 months. Concerning 177 children consulting for type I hypersensitivity problems at the CHU Ibn Rochd.
Results: 109 children (61.5%) had sensitization to at least one trophallergen. It was more frequent in boys than in girls (54% vs 46%) without statistically significant difference (p= 0.27). The most frequent food allergens in our series were: sesame 21.47%, cow’s milk 20.90%, egg white 19.21%, crab 18.08%, beef 16.38%, casein 12.43%. Total IgE was ordered for 46 patients with a median of 202.3 KU, L. 30 (65%) children had elevated total IgE and 16 (35%) children had normal total IgE, with an increase in median total IgE concentration with the number of specific IgE to which a child is sensitized.
Conclusion: Our study showed a high prevalence of sensitization to food allergens in children. Larger and more in-depth studies are needed to better understand the risk factors and mechanisms underlying food allergy in children in order to develop more effective and personalized prevention and treatment strategies.
Objective: To evaluate the correlation between total anti-Hbc antibody seropositivity and anti-nuclear antibody seropositivity, in order to prove an association between hepatitis B virus infection and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Material and methods: Retrospective case-control study, conducted in the immunology department of CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca from January 2017 to January 2022, evaluating the results of the analyses of 1099 patients, in whom a search for antinuclear antibodies was simultaneously carried out with the search for Hbs antigen and total anti-Hbc antibodies. The patients were divided into two groups. A control group with 937 Hbs antigen and Hbct antibody negative patients and a case group with 162 patients positive for total anti-Hbc antibody. Testing for antinuclear antibodies was performed by indirect immunofluorescence on slides sensitised with Hep-2 cells. Hbs antigen and total anti-Hbc antibodies were tested by automated immunochemiluminescence. Results: We obtained a seroprevalence of anti-nuclear antibodies of 40.75% in the case group and 22% in the control group (P <0.0001). No statistically significant difference between the two groups in the frequency distribution of fluorescence patterns in antinuclear antibodies positive patients was observed (P = 0.617). Conclusion: Our study, in correlation with various literature data, affirms an established association between hepatitis B virus and various autoimmune diseases.