getting things into perspective

[SmashingNarcissistsMirrors]

as someone who has suffered from allergies all their life (mould, dust, hayfever, animal hair, pollen fruit syndrome and various unidentified) and comes from an allergic family i just wanted to put things into perspective for parents who are worried about their childs allergy.

allergies are at best annoying and are frequently horrible / embarrassing / uncomfortable / debilitating.

however one thing they very rarely are is fatal. especially in children. in a 10 year period only 8 children under 16 died from a food allergy in the uk.

i don't want to underplay the concern but i just hope that people can relax a bit about allergies and the level of risk they present compared to many other things (motorway travel for example).

"Eight children younger than 16 years died from food allergy between 1990 and 2000 in the UK?that is, one death per 16 million children each year.2 If we assume that 5% of children have food allergy, then this is one death per 830 000 children with food allergy each year. Milk caused four of the deaths and no child younger than 13 died from eating peanuts. Two of the children died despite receiving adrenaline before admission to hospital, and a further child, with a mild food reaction, died from an overdose of adrenaline. Similar rates are reported in Sweden, with only six deaths between 1993 and 2003 (T Foucard, personal communication, March 2006).8 w2 No other large epidemiological studies of children exist, so we do not know how incidence varies between countries. A letter reported a higher incidence in Canada?11 deaths between 1986 and 2000 in a child population one fifth that of the UK.9
"

prevalence is what I meant to write!

BB excellent point. I mentioned above my friend who died from an allergic reaction to peanuts. IIRC her cause of death was actually cardiac arrest even though she also had anaylphalatic shock and was severely asthmatic. Point is though she wouldn't have died without eating the toffee youghurt that had nut traces in it.

"The exact prevalence of anaphylaxis is unknown. The available statistics probably underestimate the true frequency because reactions are not always reported. Milder reactions may be attributed to an asthma attack or a sudden episode of hives. More serious, fatal episodes might be reported as a heart attack since the indicative signs of hives, swollen throat, and asthma can fade quickly. Thus, it is quite possible that even the true incidence of fatalities due to anaphylaxis is both under- recognized and under-reported. The importance of awareness, early recognition, and prompt treatment of this disorder must be stressed."

In black and white off a website and validates ecactly what BB has said.

Ladies - Smashing's gone missing ...v

The House of Lords Report 2007 also comments on the incomplete state of data on anaphylaxis:

"...ANAPHYLAXIS

4.9.Hospital admissions due to anaphylactic shock rose seven-fold from 1990/01 to 2003/04.[30] During the 1990s, approximately 20 deaths each year were identified as having been caused by anaphylaxis, although this figure does not include additional undetected fatal reactions such as those to antibiotics, where an autopsy might only identify the infection for which the antibiotic was taken.[31] The Anaphylaxis Campaign also reported that the number of deaths due to food anaphylaxis was often underestimated "because of misdiagnosis or misreporting" (p 172). According to the UK fatal anaphylaxis register, for the period 1992-1998, around half the number of anaphylaxis deaths were due to "medical interventions such as drugs used in anaesthesia or injections for special X-ray investigations," with the rest being caused by stings, foods or rare causes such as latex, hair dye or parasitic worms (p 180). The pattern of fatal anaphylaxis to food during this period was similar to that reported from 1999-2006, when 48 deaths occurred in people ranging from five months to 85 years old, caused by milk (6), peanuts (9), tree nuts (9), fish (1), shellfish (1), snail (1), sesame (1), egg (1), tomatoes (1) and "uncertain" allergen deaths (18).[32] Data on anaphylaxis due to drugs, latex and exercise and other causes are incomplete. ..."

As people have already pointed out, nobody is claiming that the number of anaphylaxis deaths is high, just that the available statistics are likely underestimated and incomplete.

And my DS allergies are not food, (although he does react mildly to ketchup), in fact his are unknown, so he comes into the catorgory where data is imcomplete - so I'll remain on high alert for now thanks.