Lessons from a tragic story

The inquest into the death of Alex Baptist has just started. Alex was a four year old boy from Melbourne Australia who died from an anaphylactic reaction to eating peanuts at kindergarten three years ago.

The lessons from this dreadful story are:

• Whilst very rare, tragedies like this can and do happen and in most cases they are avoidable
• The school teacher accidentally stabbed herself with the EpiPen before she could give it to Alex. We always recommend patients to have two available at all times - ideally two at home and two at school
• Carers need to be properly trained in the use of autoinjectors - and that training should be refreshed regularly
• Nut-free policies at schools are never perfect - in practice it's probably impossible to prevent other children bringing in nuts. Teachers, parents, and older students need to be aware of this possibility and plan accordingly.

Read more at http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1882001.htm and http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/emergency-allergy-device-flawed/2007/03/27/1174761474947.html

Introduction

Welcome to the Peanut Allergy Blog