The Kiss
I find it amusing how many times I still see the famous case of the Quebec teenager who supposedly died as a result of a kiss from her boyfriend who had recently eaten peanut butter. It is fairly well known in 'peanut circles' that this is actually not the final ruling by the coroner, and in fact the kiss was not the cause of death. I find it even more amusing when the health editor of a major news organization leads with it in a story:
"The severe and often life-threatening reaction some children have to certain foods is no secret. In one prominent case, a Canadian teenager with a severe peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend who ate a peanut butter sandwich a few hours earlier."
- Dr. Manny Alvarez, Managing Editor of Health News, FOXNews
Dr. Weisnagel's site sets the record straight.
4 comments:
I got so many comments about this case at my son's school. Even though it turns out not to be the cause of death, it opened a lot of eyes at the school and reinforced to the staff how serious this allergy is.
That's interesting ... you raise a good point. Perhaps perpetuating the myth in fact serves a better purpose than getting to the truth! I'll keep it a secret =)
Even though they didn't rule it the true cause of death...as PA children get older, they have to be very aware of what their dates/lovers have eaten prior to kissing them. It's a valid concern that adults with food allergies have to deal with. There have been true accounts of someone reacting to their husbands sweat and also of reacting to bodily fluids (the woman had the PA, the boyfriend had eaten Thai food the day prior) that sent this poor dear to the emergency room.
As a peanut allergic person, I am heartened to see attention paid to this improtant health and family issue. I had a camping trip incident as a teenager with an aborted kiss with a girl who had just eaten 'GORP' (Granola-Oats-Raisins-Peanuts)! I was fine, but very dissappointed!
More seriously, I find it a little ironic that one of the advertisers (showed on upper left hand corner of "The Kiss" blog) is for custom made M&Ms (www.mymms.com)! As we know (and have perhaps suffered like myself), plain M&Ms always contained peanuts, and more recently only traces. This is true of the custom-labeled M&Ms advertised. Has anybody else noticed this?
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