Peanut and Tree Nut Anaphylaxis in Kids During Holidays
Christmas Spares, but Easter and Halloween Pose Risk, Parents Should be Alert
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
One of the observed changes in the health of our children over the decades has been skyrocketing numbers of serious, potentially fatal food allergies called anaphylaxis. These are so common now, peanuts cannot be brought to school or consumed on airplanes. I wondered with all the travel and gifted foods if the holidays posed increased risk for serious reactions in kids prompting emergency room visits with parents.
Leung et al collected data on confirmed pediatric cases of anaphylaxis presenting to emergency departments in 4 Canadian provinces as part of the Cross-Canada Anaphylaxis Registry.
Data were collected for 1390 pediatric cases of anaphylaxis between 2011 and 2020. Their median age was 5.4 years, and 864 (62.2%) of the children were boys. During Halloween and Easter, there were higher rates of anaphylaxis to unknown nuts (IRR 1.66, 95% CI 1.13-2.43 and IRR 1.71, 95% CI 1.21-2.42, respectively) and peanuts (IRR 1.86, 95% CI 1.12-3.11 and IRR 1.57, 95% CI 0.94-2.63, respectively) compared to the rest of the year. No increased risk of peanut- or tree-nut-induced anaphylaxis was observed during Christmas, Diwali, Chinese New Year or Eid al-Adha.
Of interest, a minority had prior nut allergies or asthma. These data make the use case for parents to have the Kids Medical Emergency Kit with EpiPen from The Wellness Company on hand during the holidays. The EpiPen provides temporary relief and buys time for dexamethasone and over-the-counter diphenhydramine to take effect while getting organized for a trip to the hospital. Anaphylaxis can be serious, can recur hours later, and warrants extended observation after onset at home or in the field.
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Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Chief Scientific Officer, The Wellness Company
As I understand it, anaphylaxis from peanuts started becoming more and more common in the early 1990's when vaccine makers started using peanut oil as an adjuvant in some vaccines.
Has any researcher compared rates of peanut allergy in vaccinated and unvaccinated children? Did Mawson et al. include that in their study of vaccinated and unvaccinated homeschooled children?
I'm convinced severe allergies are primarily due to vaccine adjuvants. The whole point of adjuvants is to cause an overreaction of the immune system to a small amount of foreign proteins. The intention is to cause a reaction to a small amount of the vaccine, but the effect is systemic, so it can cause a reaction to whatever a person is exposed to near the time of injection.