Fatal rise in allergic reactions

DEADLY anaphylaxis rates from food have doubled in 10 years while hospital admissions have increased five-fold over the past 20 years.

The shocking figures come as allergy and anaphylaxis will be examined in a parliamentary inquiry, with more than 4 million Australians now living with the life-threatening health condition.

The reason for the rapid rise in allergies in Australia, which has one of the highest rates of allergy in the world, remains unknown.

Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia chief executive officer Maria Said, whose son has severe allergies, said Federal Government funding was urgently needed to increase awareness of allergic diseases.

“The cases where someone has died because of a food allergy are all preventable,” she said.

“It is a tsunami when it comes to allergies in Australia and we are still in the middle of it and we are losing people through the cracks – people who are not being diagnosed properly, not being treated properly and other people who are losing their lives.”

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport will report on potential and known causes of anaphylaxis in Australia, food and drug allergy management, access and cost of services as well as treatment and support services.

Committee chairman Trent Zimmerman, the Federal member for North Sydney, said the issue affected many families, schools and child care centres.

Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia figures showed one in 10 infants now have a food allergy and that life-threatening food allergy rates have doubled in the past 10 years.

Allergy deaths increased by 42 per cent from 1997 to 2013.