I don't have the time to do a lit search right now but the individual who
almost died of an allergic reaction to ferrets was last year or the year
before if memory serves, so if I get time I'll find the refs, and if I
don't then randy can search.
 
Whether a person jokes about allergies is often an indicator of how severe
the reactions seen in that person's immediate family are.  You only have
to once go through someone being on a respirator, or being so swollen that
epinephrin and a neck stoma are needed (cutting into part of the throat
right into the trachea in hopes that enough of an airway can be created
that way) to take it seriously.  When we were at college a fellow student
went into anaphlyaxia, and for her the absolutely worst thing happened;
she wound up brain-dead.  Misinformation is as dangerous to someone with
bad allergies as it is to someone living with any other easily fatal
condition.  To laugh about that just isn't right, and it's downright
painful to multiple people.  How would you feel if someone supported
dangerous misconceptions about heart disease that were commonly held and
could kill you, for example insisting that you only have heart burn during
the start of a heart attack?  That is not funny and it should not be taken
as funny.
 
Certainly, in the past there have been those here who have spoken of being
taken from their homes on stretchers because their reaction to the ferrets
was that bad.
 
Just like people with other genetic conditions (ex: sickle cell anemia,
cystic fibrosis, etc.) that are especially serious when doubled Steve and
I were advised to not have kids because we each have gone into anaphylaxia
from common substances.  We were told that there was a high chance of a
child born to us dying young of such a reaction so that it would not be
fair for us to have children.
 
I have been told by an allergist that something like 3 people -- all very
allergic to peanuts -- have died on public airlines due to other passengers
opening their packets and the debris circulating in the re-cycled air.
Ever notice that some airlines have switched to pretzels which have
ingredients that are less common allergens?  Wonder why?
 
It is not unusual for people to wind up seeking emergency care due to
someone assuming that if the victim didn't know an ingredient was in a
food then it would not matter.  Some people die or wind up brain dead due
to such misconceptions.
 
Randy, you know what it feels like to deal with heart problems and I
am sure that you don't like ever repeating such dangerous and painful
circumstances so try to minimize such occurrences.  Isn't it obvious enough
that no one with serious allergies wants to risk somethings like having
their throat cut open, being on a respirator, perhaps having some residual
brain damage, perhaps becoming a human vegeatable, or perhaps dying?  Know
what is even far, far worse?  Seeing it happen to someone you love more
than life; that is worse.  Steve is allergic enough to whole male ferrets
to land in the hospital in serious straits.  I have not heard anyone hear
laugh at heart damage; isn't the same courtesy only reasonable to expect
by those who have allergies that can kill them at any time?
[Posted in FML issue 3363]