Milk, eggs, shellfish, nuts, grain: these foods are associated with the most widespread allergies, triggered by immune mechanisms. Instead, food intolerance is caused by poisoning from toxicity.
Around 2% of adults and 3-8% of children (mainly between 0 and 5 years of age) suffer from these particular allergies, above all in western countries.
On 3 September the congress GA²LEN ANACARE Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Forum (GAFA), organized by the Global Allergy and Asthma Network of Centres of Excellence (GA²LEN) in the section for ANACare Centres concluded. The event involved specialists from around the world, organized in Padua by the Veneto Region Food Allergy Center of the University Hospital of Padua.
150 attendees and around 2,000 participants online with the goal of standardizing the diagnosis and treatment of food allergies and anaphylaxis through the same training of specialists. Plenary sessions in the Mantegna Room alternated with workshops in the rooms on the lower floor.
The congress addressed two particular themes: on one hand launching guidelines for managing food allergies through practical workshops on diagnosis and treatment with a focus on immunotherapy alone or with monoclonal drugs; on the other, setting up a network among the European and American centers of excellence with the objective of aligning diagnosis and therapy and organizing joint research activities.
