Teen Dies After Kissing Boyfriend

A fifteen year old girl has died as a result of kissing her boyfriend. The cause of death is believed to be an allergic reaction to peanuts. Her boyfriend had just eaten a snack containing peanuts right before they kissed. Doctors are not commenting, pending autopsy results. This article states that the number of people with this type of allergy is on the rise and may be caused by the use of baby creams and lotions containing peanut oil.



You have to wonder, with all of the additives going into processed foods these days, are cases like this going to become more common. Do these manufacturers provide enough information for people with these types of allergies to know if this product would be deadly to people with these allergies? I noticed that just before Thanksgiving that there was a recall of a certain type of stuffing mix because it was believed to have been contaminated by peanut products.

I have a severe allergy to certain types of peppers and to an ingredient commonly found in artificial sweeteners. There are certain brands of foods that I can't eat as well as certain restaurants that I can't even enter. Another problem is that I am a rather large person and I have ordered a regular soft drink and have had the waitress bring me a diet drink without telling me because in her opinion I didn't need the calories of the regular drink.




[edit on 28-11-2005 by JIMC5499]

[edit on 3-12-2005 by asala]

Interesting take.

I almost voted no, then realized that we are reacting allergically to our world, as a species. But the extent of contamination - and its effects - are kept hidden.

Now that's a conspiracy.

Peanut allegeries are violent and serious, just traces left in vats that end up processing another food can cause a serious reaction or even death, so this event isn't that far out there.

What a shame, too bad they didn't use protection.

[edit on 11/28/2005 by djohnsto77]

Why is the legume allergy so violent?
I knew a neighbor kid, when I was little, who had this allergy.
I thought his mom was being over protective, at the time..a mother hen, so to speak.
He ended up having a reaction at school, instant ambulance.

He was ok, but to me, at the time, an allergy was something that made you sneeze and sniffle, it didn't kill you in seconds..

In the same vein as what spacedout is saying...

I find it interesting that we're just now hearing so much about the peanut allergy being so serious.

It's only in recent memory that so many airlines serve pretzels instead of peanuts now so no one is at risk. Also many schools are now requesting that parents not send their kids with lunch containing peanuts.

Is it possible that the allergy itself has gotten more severe somehow? If so that's a heck of a story in and of itself.

[edit on 11-28-2005 by Djarums]

Wow, talk about the kiss of death, poor guy, he must feel terrible, this will probably mentally/emotionally scar him for the rest of his life.

But, I'm surprised as weel, how little we hear about peanut allergies.

Well I've seen a lot about peanut allergies on tv, and it's horrible...probably about the worst thing you can have outside of being allergic to yourself (autoimmune diseases). These people swell up and choke to death on the smallest traces of peanut residue.

Personally, I would believe the allergy is getting more attention.

My family on my mom's side has some dramatic nut allergies. My mom's allergy is so severe that if I were to eat a peanut at work, not wash my hands, and touch something at her place that night, she'd be in the hospital.

I think that part of the reason this allergy is getting so much attention these days is due to the semi-recent moral vegetarian movement. Many people are becoming vegetarians in the western world, but their bodies don't agree with their minds: they still need protein. There has been a major influx of nut-based protein diets and the like. Many companies have also moved from using sunflower oil, veggie oil or something similar to using peanut oil in making their products.

Now here's a fun fact about allergies and histamines.

Your body seems to have a set level of allergic tolerance, regardless of the origin of the allergy. If you're mildly allergic to shellfish, but eat clams every day, that allergy will develop into something far worse. Also, if you take out the consistent intake of mild allergens, you will reduce the severity of major allergies.

As I stated earlier, my mom is severely allergic to nuts. She also reacts the same way to shellfish. She also, it turns out, has several mild allergies to things she enjoys. She's allergic to black pepper (I am too; y'all might thing Insanity sauce is hot, but you've never eaten a spoonful of black pepper when you're allergic to it!!!), fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, and some various spices such as cumin. She only recently discovered this, and changed her diet as a result.

In the past, touching a peanut or dead fish (handling live ones doesn't bother her) meant a trip to the hospital by ambulance, having to bring her back to life a few times if she didn't have time to take her shot (souped up Benedryl, don't remember the official name, Epipen or something). Yet, about a year ago, after having taken all of the mild allergens out of her diet, she actually ate a peanut (accidentally). She took her shot, then about an hour later a pair of Benedryl, and that was the end of it. What would have killed her 5 years ago before the paramedics could even get into the ambulance was just a comparably mild allergic reaction.

So, personally, I believe we have far more very mild allergies than we are aware. With more and more things being added to food to enhance taste, color, smell or even texture, our chances of having a mild allergen ingested daily are far higher today than they were 40 years ago. As a result, what would have once been an average severity allergy is upgraded because of all the other allergens in the body. Nuts and shellfish are the two most common allergies people have. It would make sense that the allergies that the most people have would also have the most people who are severely allergic to them. It would also make sense that these people are ingesting other allergens they aren't even aware of. Over time, their allergy's going to get worse, even from changing from hay fever-like symptoms to catastrophic heart failure.

Conspiracy? Nah, I doubt it. Inadvertent side effect of progress? I would say so.

I think this is what you're looking for JJ:

Rarely, food allergy can lead to anaphylactic shock: hypotension (low blood pressure) and loss of consciousness. This is a medical emergency. An allergen associated with this type of reaction is peanut, although latex products can induce similar reactions. Initial treatment is with epinephrine (adrenalin), often carried by known patients in the form of an Epi-pen.

en.wikipedia.org...

God this is such a tragic story. I mean how weird! I read that 1.5 million people in the US have a peanut allergy. Not sure how many of them would react this way.

I read that the scene in Pulp Fiction where Uma gets the adrenaline shot is actually basically how it's done. But then I read about something called epipen or something which is used by reaction-victims and they jab it into their leg. I wonder if the family lived far away from the hospital because a distance of 155 miles was mentioned. I wonder if they could have had something locally on hand to save her?

Anaphylactic shock resulting from allergic reactions are more common these days. As a firefighter I've responded to many. Use of an epipen (generally delivering an antihistamine) is a typical tool used to combat the adverse effects.

In my day peanut butter was a staple in most lunches, it was packed with protein and considered to be a good food. Not any more. My children are warned against bring it to school for fear of sandwich trading that could result in death.

Reactions vary with the person. Some can have a slow onset while some people can experience immediate problems that if not treated within minutes can result in death. Most with allergies are aware. Others become aware only after narrowly escaping death. Yet others die because they never knew.

Different laws can preempt the use of the lifesaving epipen by firefighters because of lawsuits that may result. Other regions say if the person is unconscious then we are considered to have "implied consent" to use the epipen.

For me, I will not stand by and watch someone die, I'll do whatever it takes, despite the law, to keep you with us. The toughest thing is to lose one of you after having pulled every medical trick out of my hat. Those ones we never forget, they stay a lifetime.

Typo edit, it's a curse.

[edit on 29-11-2005 by FEMA]

In my day peanut butter was a staple in most lunches, it was packed with protein and considered to be a good food.

When I was young, I would have starved if it hadn't been for peanut butter. I must have eaten at least a 55 gallon drum of the stuff and allergic reactions were unheard of. I've always attributed my growth spurt at about 13 to peanut butter, because I was eating so much of it at the time. A lot of adults I had been looking up to a few months before, I was suddenly towering over.

There have been many posts talking about a conspiracy by big business to make a profit no matter what the cost to the consumer's well being are. With all of the food additives that are out there is there enough information available to the consumer allow those with these types of allergies to avoid things that will do them harm.
I was coming home from a trip over the weekend and stopped at a restaurant for dinner. This place is famous for their salad bar and that is what I ordered. When I was building my salad I noticed that there were chopped peanuts in the topping section. Someone had scattered them through most of the other toppings that were there. With these allergies all it would take would be one piece of peanut hidden in another topping to cause a reaction. Another concern would be fried foods, many of the oils used are a mixture. All it would take is someone cutting costs and using peanut oil for there to be a problem.

In case you haven't guessed by now I made the initial post of this story. I have been getting alot of NO votes telling me that this story is inappropriate for ATSNN and I am trying to clarify why I think that it is. Maybe I didn't do a good enough job on my opinion paragraphs, but I don't think that many people read those before casting their vote.

I'm like Grady. When I ws a young'un, I ate peanut butter like it was going out of style, sometimes straight out of the jar and I never once heard odf anyone having any allergic reactions from it.

It was when I was a teenager that I'd first heard of "lactose intolerance"! That was indeed odd to me for someone not to be able to eat ice cream.

Whoops. Sorry to get of subject.

I have sympanthy for anyone who loses their life at such a young age. It's a real shame that with the advancements in medical science we can't save the lives of those who die of something that seems so "innocent".

I find it interesting that we're just now hearing so much about the peanut allergy being so serious.

Really? In the late 80s and early 90s people got so paranoid in schools that they forbid peanut based products to even be on the premesis in certain schools with a higher number of peanut allergic students. The ban is still in place as far as I'm aware (allthough whether or not it's enforced is another matter alltogether)

Allthough when I think about it, my 'hood has a very very high number of people with moderate to serious medical conditions who are not that old either. I have asthma as do a number of my friends(allthough not as bad as mine), I knew at least 3 people with mild peanut allergies(still enough to cause them to break out in hives though) 1 with excema as well as a large number of Cancer patients(you can tell them by their rapid baldness and regrowth many times over the years)

My point is maybe these things are being caused by crap in the air or water or soil..... the park near me used to be a dump, you can tell by the green methane pipes sticking up out of the ground at regular intervals(which don't necessarily have to pump into the air they could harvest it ya know ....)

[edit on 30-11-2005 by sardion2000]