Hospitals are seeing a dramatic increase in patients suffering from life-threatening reactions to allergies, British experts warned today.
New guidelines seek to improve medical care and understanding of the risks of anaphylaxis, the extreme reaction to allergy.
Latest figures show that some 1,100 people were admitted to hospital suffering anaphylactic shock caused by food last year in Britain. This compared with 551 in 1997.
In 2007 there were 24 deaths from anaphylactic shock, which can also be caused by reactions to medicines, insect bites or stings and other reactions. In 1998 there were eight deaths.
The figures were revealed by health minister Ann Keen last month in response to a question from Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb.
The new guidance, from the Royal College of Physicians, calls for improved follow-up and investigation of patients to try to establish the reasons for the increase.
All doctors should recognise the key symptoms using an approach known as “airway, breathing, circulation”, it says.
And it says adrenaline injections are vital for treating adults who succumb to shock.
Lynne Regent, chief executive of the Anaphylaxis Campaign, said: “People who have experienced anaphylaxis are at high risk of further severe reactions, and this places a tremendous burden of anxiety on them. It is extremely important that they have confidence in the help they receive from medical professionals.”
Dr Jasmeet Soar, of the RCP, vice chair of the Resuscitation Council (UK), said: “The diagnosis and treatment of anaphylaxis can cause confusion for clinicians.
“This guidance aims to simplify the recognition and treatment using the ABC approach that is well known in the profession for first assessment of patients.”
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