Allergy to guinea pigs

[FakePlasticLobsters]

We discovered DS has this allergy today, when he was given a guinea pig to hold while we were out and immediately began to sneeze. He then went very red in the face, got raised lumps, spots and welts on his face, his face swelled slightly and he started to cough and complained his chest hurt.

We ended up at A&E. They said it's a mild reaction but best to keep him well away from guinea pigs, rabbits and rodents from now on.

Just wondering now though, if anyone else has this allergy and is it linked to any other allergies or conditions? Everything I have found on google seems to suggest that asthma might be a factor in this type of allergy.

Everything is blamed on asthma! Not true ...if your ds has never shown signs of asthma then this will simply be an allergy ..

That's good then, thank you. He's never had asthma but one of the reports did mention croup and we had a very bad couple of months almost a year ago when he was hospitalised twice because of croup.

But yes, asthma did seem to crop up in every other thing I read about the allergy.

Both Ds and Dh have animal allergies and neither have asthma. They do have lots of other allergies as well.

How old is your LO? Asthma is not generally diagnosed in babies and young children I don't think. . Technically very young children can't have asthma because their respiratory system isn't mature enough to show the classic symptoms... also diagnostic tests are unreliable.

My eldest had allergies as a baby / toddler and used an inhaler for 'viral wheeze' each time he had a cold. Now aged 5 he has asthma very mildly, exacerbated by dust etc and the hope is he'll outgrow it... Asthma UK are excellent if you wanted more info.

He's three and a half (at the end of the month).

Thank you for the replies and advice. I will have a look at the link.

Possibly it was the straw from the bedding? I don't have asthma but get hives and sneeze around animals and straw.