Peanut Allergy

 

Peanut allergy is a disorder where an individual suffers from a potentially life threatening allergic reaction upon ingesting even the smallest amount of peanut. There is no cure for peanut allergy available at this time; meaning sufferers must exercise strict dietary scrutiny and restrictions, imposing significant lifestyle constraints as the only means of avoiding a reaction.

Peanut allergy is one of the most severe food allergies; rarely remitting compared with milk and egg allergy, and is frequently associated with life threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). Peanut allergy in this way can be seen as a life sentence to the sufferer.

Current treatments are not preventative, a sufferer must be experiencing symptoms before self diagnosis is made and treatment can occur (usually self administration of adrenalin through an Epipen) and admission to hospital.

It is not difficult to imagine the fear and frustration felt by sufferers and the parents of suffering children given the seriousness of this allergy, and the public’s often blasé use of a nut that is potentially deadly to more then one in one hundred people.