Peanut Allergies

[Huganurse]

What does your district do with the kids who are severely allergic to peanuts, via inhilation? They have EpiPens at school. I heard of a school in GA that made natl. news when the banned peanut, peanut butter in the school. I currently have several kids at my school who have listed peanuts as an allergy. I have 2 who are lethally allergic to it. All the other schools in my district hire a CNA to sit in the class room, with the EpiPen, in case of a reaction. But for some reason my school doesn't have anyone to sit with these kids even though I've requested it. I have asked parents to help out by not sending PB to school, to no avail. Some have even gotten letters from thier Docs stating that thier kid must have PB in his lunch. So making the school peanut free has not worked.

Now I have another student who is allergic to coconut, severely, has an EpiPen, and a Hx of going into full anaphylaxisis after ingesting Coconut. I have another who is lethally allergic to OJ and oranges with an Epi Pen for just in case. None of these kids has an asst. It all makes me very nervous!

It's getting to the point that I could never ask for all the allergic foods to be banned from the school but these kids are at a real risk of dying if they are exposed.

I'm hearing the peanut allergy is the "in thing". WHAT?? Anyway just curious if any one else is seeing more and more allergies that cause a child to code in thier schools. And, how do you handle all this at your schools???

I can see both sides of this situation as my own children are in a teaching magnet at a local high school. They are preschoolers and I PAY for them to be there! They have one new child this year who is contact allergic and also has a pen. They are in the process of banning PB at the PreK. My kids eat it atleast 3X/W and it's the only sandwich that gets eaten in thier lunches. Lunch meats and cheese come home partially eaten in thier lunch box. The PreK does not provide lunches. The allergic kids mom works at the HS and takes him out of the class room every day for lunch. Before he returns, the tables are cleaned and the other kids wash thier hands. Since he is a contact allergy that leaves the classroom for lunch, I'm having a hard time understanding why the are banning the PB! Since I must pay for my kids to be there and they provide NO lunch, is it legal for them to do this?

Thank you to all who respond to this thread. I really need some advice and insight into all of this. HUGS.

[cpgrn]

In Illinois we train staff members how to use epi pens and how to recognize an anaphylactic reaction. This is something every school teacher and other staff should be able to recognize and treat. It is not economically feasible to have an aide for every allergic child - some common sense and well placed strategies should be able to solve this problem.

[valk]

If this works & families follow through with treatment it would be good news for our peanut allergic students, their families.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/NEJMoa022613v1

Effect of Anti-IgE Therapy in Patients with Peanut Allergy

Donald Y.M. Leung, M.D., Ph.D., Hugh A. Sampson, M.D., John W. Yunginger, M.D., A. Wesley Burks, Jr., M.D., Lynda C. Schneider, M.D., Cornelis H. Wortel, M.D., Ph.D., Frances M. Davis, Ph.D., John D. Hyun, B.S., William R. Shanahan, Jr., M.D., for the TNX-901 Peanut Allergy Study Group ABSTRACT

Background Peanut-induced anaphylaxis is an IgE-mediated condition that is estimated to affect 1.5 million people and cause 50 to 100 deaths per year in the United States. TNX-901 is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody against IgE that recognizes and masks an epitope in the CH3 region of IgE responsible for binding to the high-affinity Fc receptor on mast cells and basophils.

Methods We conducted a double-blind, randomized, dose-ranging trial in 84 patients with a history of immediate hypersensitivity to peanut. Hypersensitivity was confirmed and the threshold dose of encapsulated peanut flour established by a double-blind, placebo-controlled oral food challenge at screening. Patients were randomly assigned in a 3:1 ratio to receive either TNX-901 (150, 300, or 450 mg) or placebo subcutaneously every four weeks for four doses. The patients underwent a final oral food challenge within two to four weeks after the fourth dose.

Results From a mean base-line threshold of sensitivity of 178 to 436 mg of peanut flour in the various groups, the mean increases in the oral-food-challenge threshold were 710 mg in the placebo group, 913 mg in the group given 150 mg of TNX-901, 1650 mg in the group given 300 mg of TNX-901, and 2627 mg in the group given 450 mg of TNX-901 (P

Conclusions A 450-mg dose of TNX-901 significantly and substantially increased the threshold of sensitivity to peanut on oral food challenge from a level equal to approximately half a peanut (178 mg) to one equal to almost nine peanuts (2805 mg), an effect that should translate into protection against most unintended ingestions of peanuts.

N Engl J Med 2003;348:986-93.

Notice: This article has been published at http://www.nejm.org on March 10, 2003, to coincide with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The article will appear in the March 13 issue of the Journal.

[cindyln]

I am severly allergic to nuts. I have carried an epi pen with me since I was 5. My co-workers are very aware of my allergy and when they bring goodies in there is always a nut free goody for me.

[frannybee]

I've never heard of schools in Australia or the UK providing CNAs or their equivalent - the kids carry their pens and the teachers have one too. If the school does have a nurse, it can take ages for them to get to a classroom or playing field to give the stick so it makes sense for both child and teacher to know what to do.

I have one friend who is inhalation anaphylactic with peanuts, contact allergic to eggs. Another is severely contact allergic to eggs, nuts, oranges, fish, latex and cats and dogs - and she's the worst asthmatic I've *ever* met. She was never allowed to stay over when we were kids since both of my parents smoked and we had pets. Just hanging around together was sometimes enough to make her feel ill if I'd been lying on the carpet before coming to school, due to the dog and cat hairs on my clothes.

Both friends benefited from a nurse coming to the classroom to explain why it was important for the child to avoid certain substances etc - a lot of kids stopped bringing peanut products to school altogether after seeing a video of a child having a reaction to peanuts. They weren't overly upset, just worried that this might happen to their friend. We're all grown up now - both say that having the pen on them made them more confident in their own skins (because having these allergies *really* affects confidence, self esteem and body image) yet not cocky in the face of a reaction.