A man developed a life-threatening nut allergy within a month of receiving a liver transplant, Australian doctors say.

The organ donor was a 15-year-old boy who died of an allergic reaction to peanuts.

In 1999, the man received the organ after his own liver was diseased by chronic hepatitis B and a cancerous tumour. The day after he was sent home, he ate some cashews.

Within 15 minutes, the man developed anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction causing tightness in the throat, severe vomiting, dizziness and blurred vision.

Before the transplant, the recipient had no history of nut allergy. But after the transplant, skin prick tests showed the 60-year-old man had an allergy to cashews, peanuts and sesame seeds. The boy had been allergic to the nuts.

Neither the man nor his doctors knew about the boy's allergy, which had not been formally diagnosed. Generally, the information is included in a donor's health history, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

After being hospitalized and treated with drugs, the man recovered.

One of the study's authors, Dr. Tri Giang Phan, an immunology specialist at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said he was aware of only one other reported case of an allergy being passed on through an organ transplant.

In 1997, French doctors said a man developed a peanut allergy after a liver and kidney transplant.

Phan said the reaction probably developed because the new liver contained antibodies for the allergy.

Although the allergy transfer is rare, the researchers say the case shows it can have serious consequences.

"We therefore recommend that organ donors undergo screening for allergies, and that recipients be advised regarding allergen avoidance," the researchers wrote in Monday's issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.