A paediatric case of exercise-augmented anaphylaxis following bee pollen ingestion in Western Australia

Abstract

Bee pollen is becoming an increasingly popular health supplement worldwide due to its many therapeutic applications. Thirteen cases of anaphylaxis to bee pollen consumption have been published to date, with plant pollen of the Compositae family being the most frequently implicated allergen. We present the first known paediatric case of bee pollen anaphylaxis in Australia involving a 15-year-old boy who had a strongly positive skin prick test to the bee pollen consumed where exercise was a possible co-factor. Our patient had a history of allergic rhinitis like most earlier cases. Our patient also had a strongly positive skin prick test to overseas-sourced bee pollen despite no relevant travel history, indicating the likelihood of a common pollen grain or cross-allergenicity of pollen grains found within both bee pollens. Our case reinforces the importance of a careful dietary history including health supplements when assessing for anaphylaxis.