Quote:
Originally Posted by J pold
Not according to this article, granted the numbers are from 2002 however I doubt there has been a drastic change in the last 6 years…if anything I would suspect they would only improve with medical advancement
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1888025.stm
Severe and fatal reactions in children to food allergies are rare, experts say.
In 10 years, there were just eight deaths.
Researchers from Newcastle General Hospital calculate that if 5% of children in the UK have a food allergy, the risk of that child dying because of it would be 1 in 800,000 a year
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That has no bearing on what I said.
What I said was those allergies in particular have a tendency to be severe and get more severe after every exposure. Just because their haven't been many deaths doesn't mean it isn't a concern. Perhaps there haven't been many deaths because people with these allergies avoid contact with the things in question? Perhaps it's because when there was a reaction they got the needed medical attention in time (like my friends son a couple of weeks ago)? hmmmm.
Now we can argue whether or not the people should take the kid on the plane or not. Perhaps it wasn't bright but they did ask the necessary questions and were assured of certain things that didn't happen. That is the point of all of this.
Don't sit there and find an article that says deaths are rare and think it means that the allergic reactions to these things are not serious. Two very, very different things. 30,000 emergency room visits but a handful of deaths in the US every year paints that picture.
There is a reason you do not feed children under 1 things like nuts, strawberries and kiwis (yes kiwis). It's not because they are more allergic to things when they are younger. It's because if they do have a reaction even the most skilled emergency team has a hell of a time getting the airway open if it closes. It's a serious situation.
What I get from the aritcle is not that the allergic reactions aren't severe but rather that as a whole allergic reactions are rare so there is little need to shelter kids from these foods (once past 1 year of age) and that if they are allergic and have a reaction medical professionals and emergency treatments are effective. But as pointed be someone else, an epi pen isn't a cure-all it simply gives the person time to reach the medical personel and treatments. Something that may not be possible 40,000 feet up.