allergy to pear??

Hi MtnDoo -

My son has oral allergy syndrome (in addition to his peanut allergy).

OAS is a cross reaction to raw fruits/veggies/some nuts that can happen to people who also have pollen allergies. Pear can cross react with birch pollen allergy. I'm not sure if it cross reacts with any other pollens.

My sons allergist says that OAS reactions are not usually life threatening and strict avoidance of the offending fruits and veggies is not necessary. Cooking or processing of the fruits/veggies can allow them to be eaten safely.

My son had a very similar experience with apples to what your DD is having with pears - he'd eaten them fine, but all of a sudden he started to get a very itchy mouth when he ate them. I don't think it affected his throat though.

I suppose someone can be allergic to pears the same way one is allergic to peanuts though, so I would talk to your allergist to see what he says (and avoid pears for the time being). My son's doctor had us come in and have a SPT for apple when he first started to have issues with them.

Thanks for the reply-I'll ask the allergist what he thinks we should do. Avoiding pears is easy enough, but it concerns me that we are possibly adding another allergy...I just don't want this to spiral out of control and have it either worsen her peanut allergy, or have this whole laundry list of foods she has to avoid...I hope it's just OAS, if anything.

My ds gets an itchy mouth from apples. During the last trimester of my pregnancy, I ate lots and lots of apples daily, which I craved, and I often wonder if it was because I ate so many? He can eat apples cooked -no problem.

Mine tested positive to lettuce. You can be allergic to anything.

My son has OAS to a variety of fresh fruits, Apples, grapes, mellons, bananas....He gets an itchy mouth and throat and has even had hives from eating apples. If the fruit is cooked he can eat them with out a problem. Also some people can eat the foods they have OAS to if the skin is removed.

I do not allow my son to eat any fresh fruit at school, I do not want him to be having a peanut or tree nut reaction and have someone second guessing if he is having an OAS reaction or Peanut or Tree Nut reaction.