Girl Dies at School From Peanut Allergy (Peanut Allergy)

A 7-year-old Virginia girl died last week as a result of a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. Apparently, the girl had been given a peanut (or peanut-containing food) from another child while on the playground. The girl developed shortness of breath and hives and sought help, although apparently no treatment was given at the school. When emergency medical services arrived at the school, the girl was already in cardiac arrest. She was taken to a local hospital where she was declared dead.

This sad story will surely bring up the question of whether or not peanuts should be banned from school. There are other questions that arise -- such as the availability of medicines at school for children with medical problems -- such as injectable epinephrine. And, whether or not that medicine was prescribed by a physician for a specific child, or if that medicine is available for "general use". This could lead to multiple problems, especially since most schools don't have a nurse or other healthcare professional on staff, who would have the ability to recognize and treat a medical emergency. The most important take-home lesson from this tragedy is to ensure that if your child has a life-threatening medical condition, such as food allergies, to have anaction plan in place for school officials to follow should an emergency occur.

What is Peanut Allergy?

Peanut, scientific name Arachis hypogeal, is a legume that is a common cause of food allergies. Peanut allergy is known to potentially be very dangerous and even life-threatening, particularly in adolescents and young adults, as well as in people with asthma.

How Common is Peanut Allergy?

Peanut allergy is the most common form of food allergy in school age children and adults. Milk and egg allergy are more common in infants and toddlers, but allergies to these foods are commonly outgrown by school age. Recent studies show that in North America and the United Kingdom, 1% of children have peanut allergy.

It is possible for adults (who were not allergic as children) to develop a new allergy to peanut. In these cases, peanut allergy tends to be less severe, and is likely caused by the oral allergy syndrome as a result of birch allergy.

Peanut allergy is much less common in other parts of the world compared to Westernized countries. Despite peanut being a major food source in Asia, peanut allergy is uncommon. This is thought to be due to the common method of cooking peanuts in Asia, frying and boiling, which makes the food less allergenic. Dry roasting, the common method of cooking peanuts in the United States, has been shown to make peanuts more allergenic.

Why Is Peanut Allergy Becoming More Common?The occurrence of peanut allergy has doubled in the past 10 to 20 years, and the reason for this increase is not completely clear. Possibilities for this increase include topical exposure to peanut proteins in skin creams containing peanut oil, exposure to peanut proteins in breast milk or during pregnancy, as well as exposure to cross-reacting (similar) foods, such as soy. At the present time, it is not known why peanut allergy is becoming more common.

How is Peanut Allergy Diagnosed?Peanut allergy is diagnosed in much the same as other food allergies. When symptoms consistent with food allergies occur after eating peanut-containing foods, an allergist will perform allergy testing. A positive allergy test, along with a history of a person experiencing symptoms with eating peanuts, makes a diagnosis of peanut allergy.

How Often Does a Person Outgrow Peanut Allergy?Only about 20% of children will outgrow peanut allergy by the time they reach school age. For many people, peanut allergy may be a lifelong disease. Those people who outgrow their peanut allergy typically have milder reactions, smaller skin test reactions, and fewer allergies in general.

Physicians can predict resolution of peanut allergy with the use of RAST to peanut. A RAST level of less than 5 kU/L (kiliunits per liter) is suggestive of outgrowing peanut allergy, and that a person may pass an oral food challenge to peanut. Some people who have passed an oral food challenge to peanut have become re-allergic to peanuts if they don’t eat peanuts enough after they have outgrown peanut allergy. For this reason, a person who has outgrown peanut allergy should continue to have injectable epinephrine available for emergency use.

Is it Common to Accidentally Eat Peanuts?Because peanuts are such a common food in Westernized diets, accidental exposure to peanuts is common. Peanut-allergic people accidentally eat peanuts every 3-5 years, and a recent study of Canadian peanut-allergic children showed that nearly 15% accidentally ate peanuts over a one-year period of time.

What Other Foods Should Be Avoided?Peanuts belong to the legume family, which also includes beans, peas and soy. While it is common for a person allergic to peanut to have positive allergy tests to other legumes, allergic reactions from eating these other legumes occurs in only 5% of people.

Lupine is another legume commonly ground into flour and used for various baking purposes. Unlike other legumes, people with peanut allergy can frequently experience allergic reactions to lupine, and therefore this food should be avoided.

People with peanut allergy may also be allergic to treenuts, such as almonds, cashews, walnuts and pecans. In fact, a recent study showed that about 1 in every 3 people (33%) with peanut allergy is also allergic to at least one treenut. For this reason, as well as the fact that cross-contamination among treenuts and peanuts is common (for instance, where you find one, you tend to find the other), I typically recommend that people with peanut allergy avoid eating all nuts.

How is Peanut Allergy Treated?Currently, the best therapy for peanut allergy is to avoid eating peanuts. If peanuts are eaten and a reaction occurs, treatment of the acute reaction is much the same as for other food allergies. Various research studies are ongoing looking at ways to treat and potentially cure peanut allergy. While some of these studies show promising results, therapies at curing peanut allergy are probably years away from being routinely available.

The most popular study on peanut allergy treatment involved an injectable anti-allergic antibody similar toXolair (actually a slightly different drug). This medication, given by injection every 4 weeks, increased the amount of peanut that could be tolerated without a reaction in people with peanut allergy. The purpose of this study was to avoid severe, life-threatening reactions from accidentally eating peanuts, rather than for the purpose of people intentionally eating peanuts.

Other studies for treatment of peanut allergy includesublingual immunotherapy and injection immunotherapy using isolated and engineered peanut proteins. Traditional immunotherapy using peanut has been shown to be dangerous and not an effective treatment.

Learn more:

How to Follow a Peanut-Free Diet

How to Follow a Treenut-Free Diet

Source: About.com

Read More

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2008,

When I born, I black

When I grow up, I black

When I go in Sun, I black

When I scared, I black

When I sick, I black

And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow

When you born, you pink

When you grow up, you white

When you go in sun, you red

When you cold, you blue

When you scared, you yellow

When you sick, you green

And when you die, you gray

And you calling me colored?

Written by an African Kid

Read More

Transplant Team Drops Heart on Way to Hospital

MEXICO CITY -- Medics rushing a human heart to a hospital in Mexico City for a life-saving transplant dropped it.

A helicopter was used to deliver the heart in what's called "a rapid, precision maneuver."

But after getting out of the helicopter, the medic appears to trip on a pothole.

That sent the plastic-wrapped heart tumbling out of a cooler and onto the street.

The medic immediately retrieved the heart and put in back in the cooler.

It was brought into the hospital where the transplant team was waiting.

Doctors proceeded with the surgery, which was reportedly a success.

The doctor in charge of the operation tells, The Telegraph, "Its arrival was a bit scary, but fortunately it all went well. Because we had the heart perfectly protected as it was packed in three layers," he said.

source: http://www.ktla.com/

Read More

27 SIMPLE SENTENCES.

Read More

Problems? Excellent solutions !!!!

I really LEARNT something, HOPE this is useful to you all too !!!!!!!!!!

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well. 

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, 'Big John doesn't pay!' and sat down at the back. 

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next. 

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. 

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, 'Big John doesn't pay!' 

The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, 'And why not?' 

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, 'Big John has a bus pass.' 

Management Lesson: 'Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one.' 

Case 1: 

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

To solve this problem, it took them three months and $12 million. 

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil. 

Case 2: 

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. 

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so. 

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the 

assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line. 

Moral: 

Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.

Read More