On the eve of Food Allergy Awareness Week, Coroner Michael Miron has issued his final report on the cause of death of Canadian teen Christina DesForges, whose death was reported worldwide last year as a direct result of kissing her boyfriend who earlier had eaten peanuts.

The Coroner has ruled that the peanut-allergic teen died from a severe asthma attack, due to respiratory failure. A 2001 study of fatal reactions to foods highly correlated teens with food allergy and asthma as a high risk for fatal reactions. According to Dr. Allan Bock, author of the study, “Fatalities Due to Anaphylactic Reactions to Foods,” in conjunction with The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), “Regardless of whether or not the death was food-related, we have seen in a variety of studies that teens are always at risk. Anaphylactic reactions can occur at anytime, especially amongst teenagers. Because of teens’ various social settings and behaviors, their school and other environments must be accommodated with the proper policies and educational material, and tools in order to administer treatment when someone is suffering a potentially fatal allergic reaction.”

The young girl was away from home, in the company of friends, when she suffered her reaction. This pattern has been seen in a number of cases in the fatality registry kept by FAAN, the leading nonprofit and patient advocacy group, which increases food allergy awareness while providing education and advocacy to those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis. For this reason, FAAN has established a group of teenagers, the Teen Advisory Group (TAG) to educate others on the seriousness of food allergies. Teens are proven to be the most at-risk group of those with food allergies. Joshua Montana, an eighteen-year-old with an allergy to fish is a member of that group. Montana, winner of this year’s FAAN Scholarship Essay Contest, had this to say, “It’s important that we take a lesson out of the hypothetical situation. Contact with food allergens on a friend can still cause a potentially fatal allergic reaction, whether or not allergens were the culprit in this situation. If you have food allergies, you need to make certain your friends know what they can and cannot do around you.”

The death of a child, for whatever reason, can be devastating to family, friends, and the community. Said Anne Muñoz-Furlong, FAAN founder and CEO, “This young girl’s death reminds us that reactions are never planned, we must do all we can to educate our food-allergic teens tomorrow’s leaders, to be prepared to handle the unexpected allergic reaction. Teens are the highest risk group of those with food allergies. They and their peers must be educated on, how to react and prepare for a reaction and preparation, as one is always at risk.”

Education, awareness, and preparation are vital to preventing these tragedies. Proper diagnosis by an allergy specialist, epinephrine (EpiPen® or Twinject®) to treat the unexpected reaction, along with education of friends who are often in the company of a teen, are vital to preventing reactions and quickly getting help when a reaction occurs.

For more information about FAAN’s programs for teens with food allergies, go to www.faanteen.org