Severe Peanut Allergy: Epi-Pens Should Be Carried At All Times

Author: Jody Cross

The most common life-threatening food allergy in children is peanut allergy. Children who are allergic to peanuts risk having a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis if they inadvertently eat or, in some cases, even come in contact with a food containing peanuts. Intense allergic reactions can occur from nothing more than casual contact with an exposed surface that has a hint of peanut butter on it, or from a knife that was used previously to spread peanut butter, or from a cookie from a jar containing crumbs from previous cookies made with peanuts.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that involves several parts of the body which can, without proper immediate treatment, lead to death. Most peanut allergies are considered potentially anaphylactic.

A device called the Epi-Pen is prescribed to children with peanut allergy on the understanding that it is to be carried with the children at all times. Use of the Epi-Pen after exposure can mean the difference between life and death for these children; but the Epi-Pen needs to be immediately available after exposure occurs. Because of this need for immediate action, 35 of the states in America have enacted laws that allow students with peanut allergy to carry their Epi-Pens on them at school.

Canada has no such laws, and Dr. Moshe Ben-Shoshan of McGill University Health Center in Montreal and his colleagues became concerned that perhaps Canadian children with peanut allergy were not carrying their epinephrine autoinjector (Epi-Pen) on them while at school. He knew that if the children were not doing so, they were running grave risks if exposed to peanuts. He and his colleagues surveyed 271 Quebec schoolchildren all who had a documented peanut allergy, and found that 48 percent of the children, in fact, did not carry the prescribed Epi-Pen on their person. Of these 48 percent, three-quarters of the children were keeping their Epi-Pens in the school nurse's office; however, these offices, they found, were only staffed by full-time nurses 18.5 percent of the time.

Dr. Ben-Shoshan feels that it is up to every parent to decide when a child is old enough to administer the shot that will be needed from an Epi-Pen should a reaction occur, but feels parents should be aware that having the Epi-Pen on the child in most cases will open the possibility of a quick response from nearby adults even if the child is too young to administer the shot.

The Canadian survey found that teens were especially prone to not having the Epi-Pens with them because of a combined sense of omnipotence, and a desire to appear fashionable. They seemed to feel that carrying their Epi-Pen with them made the wrong kind of fashion statement.

Careful avoidance of peanuts by people allergic to them, common sense practices like not eating unlabeled foods, and only eating foods prepared from home while at school can go a long way toward keeping these children safe, but use of the Epi-Pen can virtually safe their life; it needs to be with the children at all times.