Allergic purpura is a type of vasculitis that causes inflammation of capillaries in the skin, kidneys, and intestinal tract. It can be caused by allergic reactions to various things, including insect bites, and can lead to serious complications if left untreated. Diagnosis and treatment involve identifying the cause and may include prophylactic antibiotics or an elimination diet.
Allergic purpura, anaphylactoid purpura, or AP is a disease in which capillaries, which are small arterial blood vessels, become inflamed. This makes it a type of vasculitis, a term used to cover any type of inflammation of blood vessels. Allergic purpura typically affects the capillaries in the intestinal tract, the skin, and the kidneys. Allergic purpura is more common among boys than girls and is more likely to affect children. However, children have a better prognosis for recovery than adults.
While the cause of PsA is unknown, it often develops several weeks after a strep infection and appears to be linked to the body’s autoimmune response. It has also been linked to allergic reactions to a variety of things, including some foods, medications, and vaccines. It can also be caused by an allergic reaction to insect bites.
Allergic purpura can have a sudden onset or can develop slowly, taking several weeks to fully progress. Broken capillaries cause the characteristic lesions, the most obvious symptom, which may initially appear as areas of redness or small hives. The skin spots gradually turn purple – hence the name, which comes from the Latin word for purple – and then fade over the course of about five days, but the rash can come back.
Other symptoms indicative of more serious elements of the disease include swelling and pain in the joints and abdominal pain due to inflammation of the capillaries. Blood may be visible in stools and urine. Left untreated, someone with allergic purpura could experience kidney failure, heart attack, or inflammation of other organs, such as the pancreas, or other problems in the kidney and gastrointestinal systems. Anyone who suspects allergic purpura should see a doctor due to the severity of some of the possible symptoms.
Allergic purpura can take four to six weeks to resolve and can recur. Therefore, once the disease has been diagnosed and the patient is being treated, a key point will be trying to establish the cause. If streptococcal infection is suspected to have been the trigger, a course of prophylactic antibiotics may be prescribed to prevent a recurrence. If the cause is unclear, an elimination diet or other techniques can be used to try to pinpoint, and then permanently eliminate, a food that may have been the cause.
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