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ALLERGENS:
May 17, 2010 The Queensland Government has launched an online course to help teachers and school staff respond to potentially life-threatening severe allergic reactions.
Every Queensland State School will also receive funding to purchase adrenaline auto-injectors (Epi-pens) to include in their first aid kits.
"The online Anaphylaxis Awareness and Management course focuses on the management and treatment of students medically diagnosed as being at risk of anaphylaxis," Education and Training Minister Mr Geoff Wilson said.
February 12, 2010 Allergy researchers at Melbourne's Deakin University believe recent findings by the team may lead to a better understanding of why peanuts trigger life-threatening allergic reactions in some people and could lead to reactions being prevented in the first place.
"Peanut allergy is a major clinical problem in Australia for both children and adults but what makes peanut allergens life-threatening isn’t well understood," said Dr Cenk Suphioglu, (right), senior lecturer in Deakin’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences.
"As opposed to previous research looking at individual peanut allergens in isolation, we looked at the whole peanut - the allergens and the non-allergens," he said.
 Some people have allergies to foods ... all sorts of foods - eggs, milk products, soy, seafood, tomatoes, wheat and yes, peanuts. Research identifies that approximately 1-2 per cent of the population is allergic to peanuts. These people have sensitivities ranging from a rash to anaphylaxis. PCA recommends that parents be aware of a wide range of potential allergies, the methods of response and treatment, and of diet management. And if you have a food allergy yourself, think "AAA" - Awareness, Avoidance and Adrenalin. While PCA continues to work closely with national and international scientists and food management associations to develop and test methods of lessening and managing allergic reactions to peanuts, we are also working with schools and parent associations to educate people about allergens ... all sorts of allergens.  PCA Fact Sheet About Allergens (63kb PDF) Latest Allergen Research (53kb PDF) Allergy information on other websites
If you or your child has peanut allergy, it is important that you take some simple precautions to avoid having a reaction.
Anaphylaxis is defined as a severe allergic reaction which begins suddenly and proceeds quickly.
April 14, 2009 Is a peanut allergy "cure" as simple as dosing children with ever increasing amounts of peanut protein? Many people could believe this after listening and seeing media reports recently detailing the results of British research on oral immunotherapy published in the European journal Allergy. The researchers themselves, though, are not so confident, emphasising larger studies are still required.
February 10, 2009 There is almost three times the chance of dying from an insect sting in Australia - or a reaction to drugs - than there is from all food allergies.
Research published in the February 2009 edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology tracked anaphylaxis fatalities in Australia between January 1997 and December 2005 and compared these with findings for anaphylaxis admissions to hospital.
The study was carried out by Melbourne researchers Dr Woei Kang Liew, Dr Elizabeth Williamson and Dr Mimi Tang.
February 9, 2009 There doesn't seem to be any dispute that the number of children being diagnosed with food allergies - including peanut allergy - is growing, even if the figures vary depending on the source quoted.
What is disputed is why food allergies are becoming more common. Many theories have been examined on this website, including the latest research from the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom.
In a recent edition, the magazine Popular Science also tackled the thorny question, "Why are so many kids allergic to peanuts?"
February 4, 2009 Is food allergy in adults an over-rated - or under-rated - problem?
Researchers from the Clinic for Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology at the University of Wurzburg, in Germany, tested this last year by quizzing more than 400 patients who had been referred to their outpatient clinic with suspected food allergies.
February 4, 2009 Researchers in Chicago may have linked golden staph (Staphylococcus aureus) to food allergies and along the way, have developed a better animal model that mimics peanut allergy in humans.
The team, headed by Dr Paul Bryce from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Chicago's Northwestern University, knew that golden staph had been associated with allergic responses in dermatitis.
From this they hypothesised that the toxic proteins (enterotoxins) released by the staph bacteria, a common cause of food contamination, may influence the development of food allergies.
February 2, 2009 Many scientists have promoted the "hygiene hypothesis" (ie we are living in too clean an environment to prime our immune systems) as a reason for the growth in recent years of allergies and asthma.
But researchers in the UK and US think there may be another culprit missing ... worms!
Scientists in Nottingham are investigating whether giving hook worms to asthma sufferers can improve their symptoms. In the US, pig worms are being introduced into patients with bowel and colon inflammation and Cambridge researchers have proven a link between a tropical worm and Type 1 diabetes in mice.
January 19, 2009 The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) has released a new position paper which states there is insufficient evidence to support previous advice to parents to specifically delay or avoid foods such as peanuts in infants' diets to prevention food allergies. ASCIA says the document explains why parents "may choose not to delay" the introduction of potentially allergenic foods. The new ASCIA Infant Feeding Advice is in line with similar advice released recently in both the United Kingdom and United States.
January 5, 2009 A Harvard Medical School Professor believes some measures to protect children from food allergies are becoming increasingly absurd and even hysterical. Prof Nicholas Christakis has published a commentary in the British Medical Journal about the rise in "nut hysteria" with parents becoming over-anxious about exposure to peanuts. He said there had been "a gross over-reaction to the magnitude of the threat" posed by food allergies, and in particular nut allergies.
December 10, 2009 The UK's Food Safety Agency is withdrawing its advice to pregnant women to avoid eating peanuts in pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
November 14, 2008 Researchers from the United Kingdom and Israel have linked the early consumption of peanuts with a low prevalence of peanut allergy.
In a paper published in the November 2008 edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers headed by George Du Toit from King’s College in London provide the results of two questionnaires assessing peanut allergy in Jewish schoolchildren from similar socio-economic groups in the United Kingdom and Israel.
October 7, 2008 It might be time for a change in the strategy in the way food allergy prevention is handled.
This was the message in the media last month from Prof Andrew Kemp, Professor of Paediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Sydney's Westmead Children's Hospital.
Prof Kemp, quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald and on ABC Radio (September 26, 2008), said the incidence of food allergies had risen over the past 20 years at the same time as parents had been warned to be cautious about introducing specific foods.
July 4, 2008 The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) has posted a new guide on its website about peanut, tree nut and seed allergy. The guide explains in easy-to-understand language how a person may be allergic to one or many foods but each allergic reaction is a reaction to just one protein in one food only. The bottom line: it is not possible to reliably predict the likelihood of allergy to seed or nut-like food without allergy testing to that particular food.
May 12, 2008 There is a lack of hospital services in New Zealand for people with food allergies, according to a report published in the NZ Medical Journal.
Dr Rohan Ameratunga, an allergy specialist at Auckland Hospital, said services for both children and adults were very limited, especially outside Auckland.
May 12, 2008 A form of immunotherapy to treat peanut allergy is expected to be available within five years, says US allergy expert Professor Wesley Burks from Duke University Medical Centre.
In a report in The Lancet medical journal this month, Prof Burks said peanut allergy affects around 1% of children under the age of five years.
November 30, 2007 The Insidermedicine website, which aims to keep patients, doctors, and medical students around the world up-to-date on the latest medical research, recently interviewed allergy researcher Dr Robert Wood, Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre in Baltimore.
August 29, 2007 The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) recently released a series of back-to-school tips to help parents, children and teachers avoid allergies and asthma in the classroom.
July 31, 2007 An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in the United States has developed a simple post-harvest process which he says will make peanuts allergen-free.
July 28, 2007 British scientists believe they have identified a key molecule responsible for food allergies.
July 24, 2007 The revised 2007 Allergen Management and Labelling Guide has been released by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AGFC).
June 8, 2007 The Queensland Government will invest $500,000 a year to establish Queensland's first public specialist allergy clinic for children at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane.
May 30, 2007 In the wake of the growing number of schools and pre-schools in the United States - and increasingly, in Australia - banning nuts and peanuts from their premises, experts have warned again that the complacency that such bans creates could prove dangerous.
May 25, 2007 Despite hundreds of families being told their children have peanut allergies every year, many of these children may be able to eat peanuts safely, a study by researchers at the University of NSW and the Sydney Children's Hospital has found.
April 27, 2007 Australian researchers are hoping to develop a vaccine to protect people with serious peanut allergies, The Age newspaper reported on April 16.
March 13, 2007 A bioengineered version of a common bacteria used in cheese production could be a key to stopping food allergies from developing.
March 1, 2007 Preliminary data presented on February 25 at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology meeting in San Diego indicates oral immunotherapy treatments can reduce the risk of severe peanut allergy in children but will probably not be the total solution to the problem.
February 28, 2007 Australian researchers believe it may be possible to predict which children will eventually outgrow peanut allergies.
February 27, 2007 Parents are uncomfortable about using an EpiPen, even after being trained to use it, the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology annual meeting in San Diego has been told.
February 25, 2007 The AMA has called for a new kit - designed to enable teachers at Victorian schools to deal with children at risk of severe allergic reactions - to be rolled out across Australia.
February 20, 2007 Many parents of children with peanut allergy fear their offspring are at great risk if they accidentally touch peanut butter or inhale peanut butter fumes ...
February 15, 2007 You love peanut butter and don't have a peanut allergy but your girlfriend does ... does this mean you should never kiss her?
January 18, 2007 A former Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Queensland University believes that natural ginger could provide a key to reducing the risk of food intolerances and allergies ... even peanut allergies!
January 3, 2007 There's been exciting news over the past 12 months about peanut allergy with scientists investigating some unique ways to defeat this distressing condition.
December 22, 2006 A £5 million seven-year study has begun in the United Kingdom to determine whether early exposure to peanuts can reduce the risk of developing a peanut allergy.
December 21, 2006
November 20, 2006 Accidental ingestion of peanut rates may be down for people suffering from peanut allergies but there's still room for improvement, according to a recent study.
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