Food allergy becomes epidemic for Aussie children

(Xinhua)

Updated: 2010-03-09 15:18

From: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-03/09/content_9561860.htm

SYDNEY - A leading health expert revealed on Tuesday that childhood allergy rates have hit "epidemic proportions" in Australia.

Canberra-based allergy expert Dr Ray Mullins said 15,000 Australian children born this year would develop a potentially fatal food allergy before they reached school age.

Food allergies, particularly allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, were a growing problem with no known cause, and they now affected 3-6 percent of children under the age of three.

"This translates to 65,000 little kids with food allergy before they reach school age, (including) 25,000 now with peanut or tree nut allergies," Mullins told Australian Associated Press.

"On current birth rates, another 15,000 kids born every year will develop food allergy in the first few years of life.”

"It's a public health problem of epidemic proportions."

Mullins, President of the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA), cited a Western Australia-based study which found about 80 percent of schools had at least one student at risk of a severe allergic reaction to food.

One in seven of the schools reported a student had suffered an anaphylactic reaction - requiring in emergency injection with adrenaline - in the past 12 months.

食物过敏成为澳洲儿童的流行病

一名著名的健康专家周二透露，澳大利亚儿童的过敏症患病率已达到了流行性疾病的程度。

堪培拉的过敏症专家Dr Ray Mullins说，15000名今年出生的澳大利亚儿童将在学龄前患上一种可能致命的食物过敏症。

成因仍然成谜的食物过敏，尤其是花生和坚果过敏，已成为日益严重的问题。3-6%的三岁以下儿童患有食物过敏症。

“也就是说有65000名学龄前儿童有食物过敏症，其中包括25000名现在已经患上花生过敏症和坚果过敏症的儿童。”Mullins告诉澳大利亚联合新闻社。

“按照目前的出生率计算，每年的新生婴儿中都会有15000名婴儿在出生后头几年患上食物过敏症。”

“这是一个已经达到流行性疾病程度的公共健康问题。”

身为澳洲临床免疫学与过敏协会(ASCIA)主席的Mullins援引西澳大利亚的一份研究报告指，80%的学校存在至少有一名学生对食物有严重过敏反应的风险。

在过去的12个月里，七分之一的学校曾经报告有一名学生出现过敏反应，而且需要立即注射肾上腺素。