Health Watch: Milk Allergy Patch: Swallowing Disorder?

PHILADELPHIA, Pa (KFSN) -- It's a disease of the esophagus that if not treated, can become a critical problem for children, left unable to swallow food because it causes the body to reject it. But researchers want to know if a small skin patch could hold the key to a cure. milk allergy patch

Eleven-year-old Ashton Ulmer loves hockey! He's also a foodie, but recently stopped eating nearly everything.

Ashton said, "It just hurt. I didn't want to eat."

Ashton's mother, Melissa Ulmer, said, "When he started pushing the plate away, and started getting a little frustrated, I knew something else was wrong. It was more than just reflux, it was heartburn, belly pain."

Figuring out what's wrong when kids have stomach aches is difficult. In Ashton's case, he was allergic to ....

"Milk protein. The cow protein," Melissa told Ivanhoe.

Ashton has eosinophilic esophagitis, or EOE and milk triggers it. Jonathan M. Spergel, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia just completed a study on the disorder, which causes the body's immune system to turn on itself and reject food.

"It actually hurts to eat," Dr. Spergel said.

Dr. Spergel's study focused on 20 children with EOE who wore an inch-long patch with milk protein on their backs. It was absorbed through the skin because traditional allergy shots or pills didn't work. And the idea behind the patch was to build up a tolerance to the danger food.

"So, we put the patches on their backs and changed the patches every day," Dr. Spergel explained.

After nine months, the doctors reintroduced milk.

Dr. Spergel said, "Was the disease still there? For some patients it wasn't. Didn't work with all patients, but for some patients, they were now able to take milk which they couldn't before, which is sort of wonderful!"

EOE can create intolerance to all foods and restrict the esophagus, so that swallowing food would be impossible, so doctors say early intervention is critical. This was a phase 2 study but additional studies are needed to get FDA approval.