THE opening of Queensland's public pediatric allergy clinic is a ray of hope for those little ones who live in the shadow of severe allergies.

In time, more children who desperately need it will receive specialist medical advice, and patients will be seen for free for the first time. Their parents are understandably relieved.

But the celebration is starting small. The relief that Queensland has joined the rest of Australia in having a public allergy clinic is palpable but not demonstrative, because the benefits of the new clinic will not be seen for at least 18 months to two years.

The specialist who will head the clinic is Dr Jane Peake, one of only two pediatric immunology and allergist specialists in Queensland. Before this week's opening, Peake's waiting list was about 18 months long and because the number of specialists in the state has not changed, neither will the wait – initially anyway.

But the clinic has a registrar and other medical staff. In time, the registrar will become a specialist and two will share the work now carried by one. Then another registrar will start training. Baby steps are better than none.

Because there was no public allergy clinic in Queensland until this week, there were no training opportunities for pediatricians, skin or respiratory physicians to learn about severe allergies. Allergy education has not been a big part of medical training and has been largely book-learnt in this state.

Few sufferers survive without the use of a life-saving EpiPen, a shot of adrenalin in an automated device. To be prescribed one, they must be assessed by an allergist or immunologist – something not easily done in Queensland.

Even general practitioners do not all know what to do in an emergency. The state's other children's allergy specialist, Pete Smith, said recent research showed that 28 per cent of GPs did not know how to use an EpiPen.

Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy president Associate Professor Raymond Mullins said recently that Australia had one of the highest prevalences of allergic disorders in the developed world. An Access Economics report for ASCIA late last year revealed the yearly cost of allergies to the Australian economy was more than $7 billion.

Mullins wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia in June last year that there had been a 500 per cent increase in food allergies in children over the previous decade, and no one knows precisely why.

There is much to understand and much to fear, but also much that can be done because awareness and understanding play a large part in dealing with severe allergic conditions.

Until the brighter day dawns and waiting lists are under control in Queensland, the onus for keeping children at risk of anaphylaxis safe rests firmly on every member of the community.

An anaphylactic reaction is the most violent form of hypersensitivity known. It can cause circulatory collapse and airways to swell, sometimes at lightning speed. The Australian Medical Association Queensland's general practitioner spokesman Steve Hambleton – who is also the parent of a child who has a severe allergy to peanuts – says about 6 per cent of children in Queensland have severe allergies and are at risk of an anaphylactic episode. More than 20,000 children live with this nationwide and the number is growing quickly.

Anaphylaxis is one of the very few medical conditions in which outsiders play a part. While it is a violent response within a person, the response is set off by exposure to an outside element. For some at risk of anaphylaxis, the enemy is nuts. For others it is eggs or seafood or milk.

Until the mysteries of this frightening condition are better understood, it is we who are not at risk who must play our part in keeping allergic people safe. With an enormous increase in the incidence among children, teachers must be trained in how to administer life-saving medication, and be well versed with a plan detailing what to do should the worst occur.

As a society, we must stop seeing sufferers as being just a little dramatic and those who care for them as a little overprotective.

Anaphylaxis kills. There is nothing more dangerous: a direct threat to life is as serious as it gets.

Sending a child to school with a peanut butter sandwich is a cruel and dangerous act when those parents are aware there is a child with an allergy to nuts enrolled there. The scent of a chocolate bar can cause catastrophe. So can a muesli bar. The numbers who suffer from severe allergy are now so high that parents should be inquiring about allergies when their child has friends over to play or to attend a party.

This is one area where our care factor, awareness and basic education can make a huge difference to others.

 

Source: couriermail.com.au