INVC,,
Delhi,,
Most allergic reactions in children occur at home, most are triggered by peanuts or cashews, and treatment is often delayed, said Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee Dr K K Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India in a message.
Anaphylaxis is a severe life-threatening allergic reaction and develops within seconds or minutes of exposure. The immune system
releases histamine that cause tightening of the airways and shock. Common causes of anaphylaxis are foods, drugs or insect bites.
In the journal Allergy, Dr. Mimi L. K. Tang from Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and colleagues report 123 anaphylactic reactions in 117 children over a 5-year period. The median age of the children was 2.4 years. One death was reported in a 7-year old girl with a known peanut allergy who ate a peanut satay sauce. Most events, 48%, took place at home, and almost all initially involved breathing and skin symptoms. Gastrointestinal and cardiovascular effects were also common. The median time from exposure to the offending agent to allergic reaction was 10 minutes, and the median time until treatment was 40 minutes.
Food was the most common trigger (85 percent), with peanuts (18 percent) and cashew nuts (13 percent) the most common cause. Six percent of allergic reactions were caused by drugs and 3 percent by insect stings.
