New allergy after vaccination?

[gordonpym]

I want to start by saying this is not a debate about vaccination but a genuine question.

DS2 has a severe allergy to penicillin which was diagnosed after several stays in Day Hospital and quite often other mild reactions to unknown things. As a baby he was tested positive for wheat, dairy and eggs, but has since he was 3 been fine with these foods. So penicillin is (was) the only confirmed allergy.

We recently moved to Australia after 5 years in Spain and as DS2 didn't have any Meningitis vaccination in his book, I was advised to do it. He is 8 .
We did it on the 11th of March (Menitorix), three days later, my DS was stroking a cat and started to develop hives on his face, itchy eyes, nose tickling and running. I didn't really think much about it as he has from time to time these reactions without a reason, and I knew he wasn't allergic to cats because he has every other Monday a shared guitar lesson at a girl's house and she has a cat my DS likes petting.

10 days later, the guitar class at his friend's house had to be interrupted because DS2 couldn't stop from rubbing his eyes, he was wheezing, and had again plaques of hives on his face.
I booked the GP and asked for him to be tested. We did a blood test straight away and the result just came back: he has a moderate allergy to cat's dander and a low allergy to dog's dander.

This is completely new and very surprising and the fact that it happened just days after the injection makes me wonder if there may be a link or is it just a coincidence?

Coincidence. How would a vaccination make him allergic to cats? I'm allergic to cats but we had a cat when I was about 6 that I never reacted to. From about 10 on though I did react to cats and horses too. It just developed as I got older. Didn't have any vaccinations between the ages of 5-12 though so definitely no link between the allergy and my receiving jabs.

penicillin allergy could be due in part to repeated exposure to drug.

with regard to the other allergies , have you ever heard of the atopic march? this describes the pattern of common allergy development in atopic or allergic children.
Although allergies can develop at any time of life, for instance one of my children has developed food allergies during the teen years, while her sibling was born an allergic person.

i wouldnt be surprised at all that your child has environmental allergies as he already shown allergies to food.

btw:

eczema, slow growth pattern (esp in breastfed) and very poor sleep patterns before 3 months are the signs of a food allergy. did your baby have any of those signs?

are you and your partner have ezcema, asthma, hay fever?

Thank you for your comments.
DS2 had the most horrible reflux as a baby with such projectile vomit we had to repaint the ceiling of my room. He suffered apnea and several infections due to vomit going into his lungs and ears and certainly the penicillin allergy started there.
At weaning things got really worse and he had extremely smelly and acid poos, so smelly, I had to change the sheets several times per day even if they were not stained and that is when they tested him for allergy and he was positive for wheat, dairy and eggs. To be honest, excluding these foods didn't make difference for his reflux or poos, but if by accident he ate some of these he would vomit straight away, so violently he would vomit through the nose.

Slowly he improved and at 3 he was eating more or less anything. The skin of the peach gives him a rash around the mouth but the peach test was negative, some sweets and cheese snacks at birthday parties gave him abdominal pain and hives as big as saucers, so now he doesn't eat them.

I don't have any allergy but my husband has hay fever.

Maybe I should have him tested properly again. The last visit to an allergist was several years ago.
Thank you again

Some people, myself included, can be allergic to some cats and not others. I developed my allergy in my 40's after working with, and keeping cats for 20 years. I suppose in theory the vaccination will have triggered an immune response and exposure to an allergen simultaneously may have caused his IgE, responsible for histamine release, to go into overdrive.

That's what I was thinking, Bohemian. Maybe the vaccination just triggered an existent low and unnoticed allergy to cat to become moderate hence noticeable.

Another strange things in the last days is the 7pm hives outbreak without any reason. DS2 will start scratching and complaining and if I raise his t-shirt he has hives on his torso and back. As it is school holiday and the kids are playing a lot outside, I have been wondering if maybe a plant or flower in the garden is giving him reaction, but he doesn't have any patches on exposed skin like legs (still wearing bermudas) or arms. I consulted Dr. Google and it seems to be quite common to develop hives at night when the chemicals in the body change before sleep.

Allergy are such a mystery! Maybe the move to Australia exposed him to new allergens. Vegemite and shapes crackers being on top of the list!

Dermal patch skin testing is very good at pinpointing environmental/non-food related allergens. My Ds had this done at 3, he's allergic to a lot of parabens, some of which are commonly found in toiletries and medicines. Might be worth asking your GP for a referral.

Yes, i will definitely do that. Thank you.

i would go for environmental allergy testing, and of course someone who reacts with hives and gut pain is allergic to something! So reconsider testing for food allergies.

BTW As gut damaged by eating allergens, i wouldnt of expected instant improvement once removing allergens from diet. Takes weeks/months to heal gut as we cant stop using it.

your sons history means that he should be seen regularly by an immunologist, as new allergies develop or could be outgrown and safely re introduced. Also can take advice re is this is still true ige allergy and ask if epi pens are needed at any point. Or that it may be a gut issue that needs monitoring.