Teenager with peanut allergy dies after a kiss

CTV ^ | November 25, 2005

[EveningStar]

A Quebec teenager with a peanut allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier.

[Sonny M]

What exactly is it about peanut butter that's different to demand a ban?

How many kids bring bleach, gasoline, turtle wax, or herbicides to school?

While I don't understand peanut allergies, I haven't heard of any allergies to plastic wrap.

In schools, banning peanuts is a mere inconvenience, its not life altering, or somehow going to change the kids life.

Unless the kids is allegic to peanuts, in which case, not banning it, can kill them.

[Mom MD]

My child is normal, and does not be segregated to a special school. All he needs is common courtesy from others, which some people here seem to be lacking.

If someone asked you to not eat something around them that could be fatal to them, all I would ask is you say "OK"

Only common courtesy. Eat your pbj at the other table. (or shellfish, or whatever it might be)

[Sonny M]

I think that if your kid has peanut allergies that bad, you don't go telling the school to ban peanuts -- you homeschool your kid or get him a private tutor. Telling an entire school system / community to ban any contact with peanuts is overkill.

Or the kids dies, and you sue the school at which case, someone goes "oh well, to bad".

A mere inconvenience about one food item, isn't going to ruin a kids life, versus ending another kids life.

We're not banning pens or pencils, or food in whole, just one item that happens to cause harm to to many kids with these allergies.

[Sonny M]

Was he fed a soy-bean based formula as an infant?

I doubt it, the mom and my friend aren't vegetarians, and the mother is pretty harsh on all soy foods or as she calls it "imitation food".

[Mom MD]

see my other post. As a mom of a highly allergic kid, I don't ask for a ban. And no, I did not sue the school when they accidentally gave my first grader a peanut butter cookie in the cafeteria and he had to be airlifted to ICU and spent 2 months on steroids.

Again, its just a matter of common courtesy and cooperation. The golden rule goes a long way.

[freespirited]

Here are some references. If you click on the link, you will find more there on food allergy and aspirin.

1. Food anaphylaxis induced by aspirin. Allerg Immunol (Paris). 2001
Mar;33(3):147-9.

2. [A clinical case of 13 years old boy of aspirin-induced asthma with food
allergy] Arerugi. 2000 Nov;49(11):1104-7. Review.

3. Dramatic augmentation of a food allergy by acetylsalicylic acid. J
Allergy Clin Immunol. 2000 Apr;105(4):844. .

4. Aspirin enhances the induction of type I allergic symptoms when combined
with food and exercise in patients with food-dependent exercise-induced
anaphylaxis. Br J Dermatol. 2001 Aug;145(2):336-9. (full text should be free
online check link below)

We examined the effect of aspirin as a substitute for exercise in inducing
urticaria/anaphylaxis in three patients with food-dependent exercise-induced
anaphylaxis (FDEIA). Two of the patients had specific IgE antibodies to
wheat and the other had antibodies to shrimp. Administration of aspirin
before ingestion of food allergens induced urticaria in one patient and
urticaria and hypotension in another, while aspirin alone or food alone
elicited no response. The third patient developed urticaria only when he
took all three items, i.e. aspirin, food and additional exercise, whereas
provocation with any one or or two of these did not induce any symptoms.
These findings suggest that aspirin upregulates type I allergic responses to
food in patients with FDEIA, and further shows that aspirin synergizes with
exercise to provoke symptoms of FDEIA. This is the first report of a
synergistic effect of aspirin in inducing urticaria/anaphylaxis, which was
confirmed using challenge tests in patients with FDEIA.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2133.2001.04329.x

[TASMANIANRED]

Courtesy would be a distinct advantage.

I know someone that lost a child to a nut allergy.

I know this is a serious issue.

Demanding that the entire school including other childrens homes being peanut free is going too far.

[Sonny M]

You just can't expect that no one in the school will ever bring peanut anything. Even if the principal sends Patty-the-PBJ-bringer home immediately, what did she touch before she left? If you read labels, peanuts are EVERYWHERE.

We could go the next step, and just lock them up and throw away the key.

My friend didn't have his kids school ban peanuts, they did that from a prior lawsuit where someone got hospitalized.

However, it was smart, and it made sense, and since then, they haven't had any problems.

As far as I know, they don't enforce the rule with punishments, but with confiscation and a note home to mom and dad explaining the rule, I don't know if they make kids wash their hands or not, or other details.

[Sonny M]

Tough for the kids who have the peanut allergies. It's a personal problem. They either need to stay home or eat lunch in a designated area, somewhat like those who smoke are banished.

Don't you just wish them dead or in prision or something.

Sarcasm.

[ShadowDancer]

I am rather poetic, aren't I?

[Sonny M]

Again, its just a matter of common courtesy and cooperation. The golden rule goes a long way.

I don't think its to much to ask the school to ban one food item.

We're not strapping the kids in iron legs, just ban peanuts as a simple safety precaustion.

Its enough kids that it is a threat, that said, its also a hell of alot better then a lawsuit.

And, these are lawsuits that the folks who sue will win.

[Mom MD]

I agree, and I have never asked the school to ban peanuts, much less tell others what to do in their home. What I did was leave several treats for my child in the classroom for the teacher. That way when someone brought in treats for the kids, my child got something out of his stash, and everyone was safe.

You can't ban substances people are allergic to, or you wouldn't be able to eat anything at school. But, a small child does need courtesy and cocperation from the adults in charge to keep them safe until they are old enough to take that responsibility on themselves.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I also do not understand the severeness of the reatcion. I have gone into Anaphylactic Shock between 20 and 30 times throughout my life. I have a good deal of allergies and have all my life. I did think I was going to die once- but that was after eating a bunch of Shell fish- which I later found out I was allergic to. I don't understand why these kids are so very sensitive to peanuts. We can not have anything made with peanuts near a child in my son's homeschool group.

[Pharmboy]

Aspirin has not been used for kids since the 1970s because of Reye's Syndrome. Not a factor. For the increase of childhood asthma, they have been looking at cockroaches.

[Sonny M]

That's like saying we need to ban cars because some kids run into the street without looking.

Yes, banning peanuts from some school is the same thing as outlawing cars through out the country.

Laughing at the slippery slope nonsense.

[Mom MD]

I actually believe the theory that asthma is rising because our kids are not exposed to enough antigens when young. We have a much cleaner society (which is a good thing), but young immune systems are not exposed to enough in a formative stage.

And yes, cockroaches are a big problem, but we don't have a lot of them in Colorado (too high and dry), so I don't think that contributed to my son's asthma

I agree about the aspirin in kids, I don't think any of my children have ever had an aspirin. It would be interesting to see if ibuprofen or other nsaids would have the same effect.

[SauronOfMordor]

Your reference is interesting. I was wondering myself what had changed between a few decades ago and today

[Pharmboy]

Well, before soy formulas were available--in the 1950s--there were other modified easy-to-digest formulas based on pre-digested mild protein. Also, banked breast milk or wet-nursing was used for these intolerant infants. The soy-based formulas (Isomil and others) were important advances in infant feeding (although certainly over recommended) and they might have the effect of increasing certain food allergies later on.

[freespirited]

First I have heard of this: story of a teenage girl who asked her mom to get her a "peanut sniffing dog" so she could go to school and not be at risk from her peanut allergy. Such a dog qualifies as a service dog and with one she will no longer be homebound.

Read it or watch the video--take your pick.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/money/news-article.aspx?storyid=38694

Anyone know more about this? One anecdote is not enough to establish this as a solution.

[Fred Hayek]

"Anyone with an acute allergy (bee stings, food, etc.) should always have with them an Epi-pen "

I was bicycling with a friend who was allergic to bee stings when I got stung by a bee (first time). She asked if I was allergic to bees, and if I had been stung before. When I replied no to the second, she had an Epi-pen ready - just in case I went into shock. Fortunately she did not have to use it.