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Fatal Food
When Your Child Has A Peanut Allergy By Donna Stone
"I'm just a kid, playful active bold, but don't feed me peanuts, please let me grow old." So begins Erica's poem, written by her Aunt Karen. Erica is only one of the growing number of children being diagnosed with peanut allergy. For these children, just touching a product that contains peanuts may evoke a potentially life-threatening reaction.
What's Happening?
Parents of an allergic child often do not realize exactly what is happening the first time their child is in the throes of an allergic reaction they only know something is very wrong. Erica's father, Chris Papkee, relates their story: "My wife had placed my daughter in her high chair, next to the kitchen table, before I awoke. One of the first things I did that morning was to make myself some peanut butter and jelly crackers." The phone rang and Chris answered it, standing only a few feet away from his daughter.
"When I came back to the table, I was struck by what I at first thought was chicken pox marks all over my daughter's face and arms." Erica had experienced her first allergic episode. Every inch of skin that had come into contact with the peanut butter was covered in hives. Erica's parents mentioned her strange reaction to her pediatrician at her next checkup. Testing revealed peanut allergy.
"Peanut allergy tends to be the most serious of all food allergies," says pediatric allergist Robert Wood of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. A person can be allergic to any food, but the most common life-threatening food allergies are to peanut, egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts, soy and shellfish. "Although not everyone has dangerous reactions, those with peanut allergy have a higher incidence of severe reactions," Dr. Wood says.
Severe allergies can cause anaphylaxis, an immune system response involving more than one body system. Hives, swelling of the throat and airways, a dangerous drop in blood pressure and heart failure are only some of the effects of anaphylactic shock. According to Dr. Wood, the incidence of peanut allergy, along with all other allergic disease, has increased in recent years. "But," he says, "the reason for the increases is not clear."
