The Importance Of Anaphylactic Treatment

In Australia, why is there a higher amount of reactions to allergens that require anaphylactic treatment?

Anaphylaxis is when an individual becomes severely allergic to any given allergen in the environment, for example a food such as peanuts. There are several triggers and consequences that result from someone experiencing an anaphylactic reaction (anaphylaxis). Most of the time people are born with anaphylaxis and it is a life threatening disease. In most cases the individual will happen to grow out of their allergy but in some circumstances this is not the case. In recent times anaphylaxis has been on the increase, but there is things being done to raise awareness, such as Food Allergy Week and nut free work and school zones. In Australia

anaphylaxis needs to be considered, because out of every 200 cases there is one death.

Anaphylaxis is an issue that is widespread throughout Australian society and in most cases is seriously life threatening.

This is supported by the following statistic, “Australia has a relatively high prevalence of peanut allergy. Almost 3 in every 100 children have a peanut allergy” (Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, 2011). Anaphylaxis is a potentially life threatening, severe allergic reaction and should always be treated as a medical emergency (The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA), 2013). An anaphylactic reaction occurs when an individual is exposed to an allergen, (for example peanuts) and whereby the individual is already extremely sensitive to the allergen. It is important to identify the causes of anaphylaxis due to the fact that it is so life threatening in most circumstances. The first line of treatment for anaphylaxis is adrenaline. The way that the adrenaline works is that it works rapidly to reverse the effects that anaphylaxis has on an individual. These injectors contain a single dose adrenaline and have been constructed and designed so that everyone can give them to an individual suffering from an anaphylactic reaction. These include people such as family members, friends, teachers etc. You have outlined what is anaphylaxis and allergic reaction but you have not related this to your

statement.
There are many things have an individual can have an anaphylactic reaction to. Some of the main allergens include the following:
• Food- any food can be a trigger. However the foods that account for about 90 percent of allergic reactions include crustaceans (lobsters, prawns and crabs), eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts) and sesame or soy products as well.
• Insect venom- Including bees, jumper ants, ticks, fire ants and wasps.
• Medicines- from some prescription drugs (such as penicillin), over the counter medicines (such as aspirin) and herbal preparations.
• Uncommon triggers- include exercise, anaesthesia or latex
• Unknown triggers- sometimes, despite exhaustive investigations, a person’s trigger or triggers cannot be identified.
(Better Health Channel, 2012)
There are many consequences that result from an individual experiencing an anaphylactic reaction. These include the following points:
• Difficult/noisy breathing
• Swelling of the tongue
• Swelling of the throat
• Difficulty talking
• Wheezing
• Loss of consciousness
• Pale and floppy (young children)
(ASCIA, 2013).
Sometimes anaphylaxis is lead to by symptoms that are of less danger, these symptoms include:
• Swelling of face, lips and/or eyes
• Welts on the skin
• Abdominal pain, vomiting
(ASCIA, 2013).
“Australia has a relatively high prevalence of peanut allergy. Almost 3 in every 100 children have a peanut allergy” (Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, 2011). According to Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia around 20 percent of children that do have an allergy to peanuts, do grow out of it. Those children that experience a sever reaction to an allergen such as peanuts, for example severe breathing issues are much less likely to grow out of their allergy than those children that have a less severe allergy. In some circumstances an individual may not know that they have a peanut allergy until later in their life. “About 30 percent of individuals can be allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts” (Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, 2011). In children peanut allergy is the second most common and is unfortunately on the increase. For every 200 episodes of anaphylaxis it has been estimated that there is one death (Velencia Soutter, Anna Swain and Robert Loblay, 2002).

The graph to the left shows the number of people that are affected by different allergies that have caused eczema. In this particular example the allergies are eggs, milk and peanuts. As seen on the graph eggs start off as the allergy that affects the most people but as the age of the individuals increases the allergy that is most common is peanut. The results are taken from skin test results from 711 people.

Anaphylaxis is a very personal issue and quite often the individual will be born with the anaphylactic reaction to the allergen, in this case peanuts.

Although anyone can have an anaphylactic reaction, but in particular children as it is most often a disease you are born with, there are factors that increase the risk of an individual having an anaphylactic reaction. The two factors include, if the individual has asthma. Asthma is “a narrowing of the small air passages (bronchi) of the lungs that causes wheezing, coughing and breathing problems” (Better Health Channel, 2012). The second factor that increases the risk is eczema; eczema is “a type of inflammatory skin condition” (Better Health Channel, 2012). So the area of society that is more like to encounter anaphylaxis is people who have either asthma or eczema or in some cases if they experience

both.
To go back to the history of anaphylaxis and to try and fully understand the problem we nearly need to go back 100 years. It was on Prince Albert 1 yacht, when he had invited two Parisian scientists to come on board his yacht to test out the toxin that a local jellyfish gives off. This jellyfish was known as the Portuguese Man of War. The two scientists that were invited on board this ship go by the names of Charles Richet and Paul Portier. These two scientists successfully isolated the toxin from the jellyfish and used it to vaccinate dogs in order to try and protect them against the deadly toxin. Instead of the small doses of the toxin protecting the dog against it, it instead produced an unexpected reaction of difficulty breathing and within 30 minutes the dogs would pass away. Consequently Portier and Richet deemed this to be anaphylaxis. They both then came to the conclusion that during the first several weeks the immune system becomes sensitised to the allergen but then when the allergen gets re-exposed then the individual may have a sever allergic reaction. In 2641 BC the first case of anaphylaxis was documented. This occurred when Menes, an Egyptian pharaoh mysteriously died due to a wasp or hornet sting. In 1913 as a result of Charles Richet’s great work with anaphylaxis, he was rewarded the Noble Prize (Jerry Balentine, 2015).
In the developed world Australia and New Zealand are amongst the highest prevalence of allergic reactions. According to an ASCIA- access economics report, it is “estimated that in 2007, 4.1 millions Australians (19.6% of the population) had at least one allergic reaction, with highest prevalence in the working age population, with 78% of those affected aged 15-64 years of age”. In the same report it suggested, “In the years 2007-2050 the number of people affected by allergic reactions will increase from 4.1 million to 7.7 million”. Every year the costs of allergic reaction is quite high with the cost to the Australian economy, more than 7 billion and the majority of Australians have to wait months to see a specialists, if they even have the accessibility to the health care facilities required to deal with an allergic reaction. $21.5 billion is the estimated costs to Australians who suffer from allergy. This figure is approximately double the figure for arthritis and hearing loos ($11.7 billion). Recent findings have not only shown that Australia has the highest prevalence of allergic reactions but also that some allergies are in fact on the increase. The reactions that were on the increase were eczema, hay fever, but most recently dangerous anaphylaxis mainly due to food allergens. In youth that are aged 12-24 years of age in Australia, asthma, hay fever, chronic sinusitis and other allergies make up 4 of the top 10 most common long-term illnesses. As seen by the previous statistics, it is quite obvious that the number of people that are affected by anaphylactic reactions is on the increase. Therefore in the future if the trend follows suit then the number of people affected by anaphylaxis will increase and therefore the money that is going to be spent is also going to increase due to the number of people needing access to health care and to the services that treat and deal with anaphylaxis.
The government plays a big role in anaphylaxis and the accessibility to health care facilities for different communities. Governments could provide extra funding to communities that can’t afford to access the treatment need to deal with an anaphylactic reaction. The government could also act as a support network for those who need help with handling anaphylaxis. Especially to those who have just be diagnosed with anaphylaxis, it can be quite a stressful time and some people may need help with what to do and just general support until they feel comfortable with what they need to do if they ever need to deal with an anaphylactic event. It is important that the government is supportive of the people and families that are affected by anaphylaxis because it can be quite a stressful experience.
Schools are also an important factoring in supporting individuals and families get through anaphylaxis and develop strategies so that if anaphylaxis does occur then the processes are in place to deal with it. One thing that schools can do is making their school a nut free zone. Many schools do have this in place, one issue that can arise though is that people still bring nuts in so schools need to develop strategies and inform people of the dangers of nuts if someone has an anaphylactic reaction to them so that then hopefully the number of people that bring peanuts to school does decrease. Another thing that schools are doing is Food Allergy Week. Food Allergy Week is to raise awareness of anaphylaxis amongst school kids and provide the students that have anaphylaxis a better of quality of life when they aren’t at school knowing that nuts cannot be bought into the school grounds. The theme of this years food allergy week was be aware, show your care. This just shows that if you are aware of the dangers of peanuts to some students then you will be more careful will which result in you showing more care towards students and providing them with a supportive network.
Families and parents are very important when their child is diagnosed with anaphylaxis. They need to insure that they imply positive thoughts to their children and teaching them about what to do in the case of an anaphylactic reaction and providing them a support base whereby they can learn about anaphylaxis and when they are on top of it then knowing that they can always come back to their family and parents for support. Positive talking and support is very important because anaphylaxis is life threatening in most cases and the majority of kids don’t want to hear that sort of information therefore if the parents are positive about it all then so will the kids and this will also provide them with a strong supportive base for the future of dealing with their anaphylactic reaction.
The Government, parents, schools and medical professionals etc, play an important role with helping a family deal with anaphylaxis. The way that they can all work together is by the Government providing money to the medical practices, school and families so that the accessibility to the health care needed is available for everyone and awareness can be raised about anaphylaxis. That way everyone can afford to buy the EPI pen that is needed and everyone can go and see the doctor for check ups and see the specialist for skin prick testing. This way if everyone has accessibility to these health care facilities then the treatment and management of anaphylaxis therefore becomes accessible for everyone and no one has to suffer from anaphylaxis and not be able to get treatment. On the other hand though if the Government doesn’t provide money and raise awareness then some people can’t afford the treatment and EPI pens and therefore can’t manage it properly so it could escalate into a bigger problem.
The programs that are organised and events that occur to raise awareness about anaphylaxis and allergy based reactions in Australia are funded through little funding from things such as membership fees, fundraising activities, sales of allergy related educational material and little grants from Government and industry. Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia have a high reliance on the volunteers that work for them, therefore when schools have events such as Food Allergy Week it is important that people get behind it by donating some money to the charity so that the charity survives and that awareness and treatment for anaphylaxis stays strong and accessibility is available to the broad community.
Yes there are significant and sustainable initiatives that can be implemented to both reduce and prevent anaphylaxis. One of these is by schools implementing the nut free zones around their school. By doing this it reinforces the importance of people not bringing nuts into schools and raises awareness about the symptoms and results of an anaphylactic reaction so that everyone is aware of it and is able to treat it if it happens to occur in the schoolyard. Another initiative that has taken place is the Food Allergy Week. This is where school spend a week raising awareness about allergic reactions and providing children with anaphylaxis a supportive environment at school and providing them with a strong support base so that if they ever hit any trouble they know that they have someone that they can go and talk to at school. One of the goals for the Food Allergy Week is to insure that the best practice allergy management plans are in place.
In conclusion, research shows that the number of people that have anaphylaxis is on the increase and if the trend continues that will continue to occur into the future. I think that people aren’t fully aware of what anaphylaxis really is and the dangers that are associated with it. I think that calls for more awareness required in schools and workplaces. Possible outcomes for the future may be that anaphylactic reactions may be able to be cured, hopefully then the rate can be decreased and therefore the cost can also decrease and if people happen to have anaphylaxis then hopefully they are fully aware of how to treat and manage it correctly.