Echocardiographic alterations in a child with cows milk allergy: A case report

Abstract

Introduction. Cows milk allergy is the most frequent food allergy in Europe and western countries and shows a wide spectrum of clinical features, including atopic dermatitis and gastrointestinal disease. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to describe Kawasaki disease-like clinical features and echocardiographic alterations which resolved after a cows milk-free diet. Case presentation. We report a case of a 9-month-old Caucasian girl with atopic dermatitis who developed clinical features commonly present in Kawasaki disease (erythematous skin rash, non-exudative conjunctivitis, fissured lips and neck lymph nodes), together with mild echocardiographic alterations (perivascular brightness, pericardial effusion) in the absence of fever. These features resolved within 2weeks after the beginning of a cows milk-free diet. Conclusion: Kawasaki disease has recently been considered a possible risk factor for subsequent allergic disease secondary to immune dysfunction. This case report suggests that the immune-related alterations which are commonly present in allergic patients could be similar to the antigen-related immune response in Kawasaki disease and thus could lead to similar clinical features. © 2012 Di Cara et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.