The little boy who can't eat - and he's not on his own
Our story about Harrison Cooper-Jones, the little boy who wouldn't eat, evoked a huge response from readers. One of them, Suzanne Waller, has a toddler son with a condition that also makes it impossible for him to eat normally.
EOSINOPHILIC oesophagitis (also known as EE) is a disease characterised by swelling of the oesophagus (the part of the body connecting the throat and the stomach) caused by an allergic white blood cell, the eosinophil.
Symptoms of EE can range from severe heartburn, difficulty swallowing, food impaction in the oesophagus, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. There appears to be some age-related differences in symptoms, with younger children having more symptoms of weight loss, and older children and adults having food impaction and difficulty swallowing.
It is not exactly clear what causes EE, although this disease may be related to other allergic diseases, particularly asthma. People with EE frequently have a personal or family history of other allergic diseases such as hay fever, food allergy and asthma. Recently, there have been studies showing an association between food and environmental allergies and EE. Various studies have shown that patients with EE have positive allergy tests to various foods, including milk, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, peas, beef, chicken, fish, rye, corn, soy, potatoes, oats, tomatoes and wheat. Of these, the most common food triggers are milk, egg, wheat, rye and beef.
Environmental allergens, such as pollens, moulds, cat, dog and dust mite allergens may also be involved in the development of EE.
