Child food allergies up 12-fold in 10 years.

June 18, 2007

Print this page Child food allergies up 12-fold in 10 yearsAdam Cresswell, Health editor18jun07THE number of children under five affected by potentially dangerous and occasionally even fatal allergies to peanuts, eggs, milk and some other foods is rising fast, with new evidence suggesting the rate may have increased 12-fold since 1995. The first Australian study to look at pediatric food allergy rates in children found the number of consultations for advice on the

problem in children under five rose from 11 a year in 1995 to 138 a year by last year. There was also a seven-fold increase over that time in the number of annual consultations for food anaphylaxis, which can involve rapid and potentially dangerous drops in blood pressure, breathing difficulties caused by swelling in the throat or mouth, and other problems. Study author Raymond Mullins corroborated the findings, based on figures from his own Canberra practice, by analysing national hospital data showing admissions of children under four with anaphylaxis soared from 39.3 per million population in 1993-94 to 194 per million in 2004-05 - twice the increase seen in Britain. The paper, published yesterday in the Medical Journal of Australia, said there was an urgent need for co-ordinated studies to measure more accurately the extent of the food allergy problem, what might be causing

it and what should be done about it. Professor Mullins said the health system had been "caught unaware" by the increase, and signs of the rise to date had come from "doctors saying, 'I'm seeing more of this and more of that"'. "We don't know why it's going up, and we haven't been able to identify the risk factors that make it more likely, and we haven't been able to prevent it," he said. "At this point we don't have anything to treat it, other than avoid the food, and an EpiPen (a hypodermic syringe primed with adrenaline) for emergency use." Professor Mullins said that although people often focused on the fatal cases, such extreme events were rare and the bigger problem was the reduced quality of life for allergy sufferers and their families. "For parents, you will see a kid who looks normal one minute and the next

minute has swollen up like a puffer fish, and the parents are scared out of their wits," he said. "It's very scary to see - and parents worry about sending kids to sleep-overs, and have to . . . (read) the product information on everything they buy." privacy terms Â© The Australian US: 1 in 150 children has AutismUS: 1 in 6 children suffers a developmental disorderNew Jersey: 1 in 94 has Autism UK: 1 in 86 has Autism China : Over 20 lakh autistic children, India : No authentic figures, expected one crore+ (1 in 250) AUTISM IS NOTHING BUT MERCURY POISONING. THERE IS MERCURY IN VACCINES!!

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