Study: Man acquires kiwi allergy from sister after bone marrow transplant

A man acquired a kiwi fruit allergy after receiving a bone marrow transplant from his kiwi-allergic sister, according to a recent study by a team of researchers from Munich, Germany.

Reportedly, multiple instances of similar allergy transmission have been described in various medical literatures in the past, but no conclusive evidence for the reaction being caused by donor cells has been found until now.

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The 46-year-old recipient suffered two instances of oral allergies after eating kiwi following myeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

According to the study published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, "Allergic sensitization to kiwi in recipient and donor was proven by ImmunoCAP...[and further] analysis proved that hematopoietic cells of the male recipient completely originated from the female donor."

In conclusion, the researchers note, "Exemplified in this patient, we show for the first time that allergy transfer is mediated by the donor's cells."