Maja and Chris Vella’s five-year-old son is allergic to peanuts so his parents did what they could to make sure a chocolate cake they ordered at a café six months ago was nut free.
After repeatedly checking with the waiter that it contained no peanuts, they allowed their son to take a bite.
But as soon as he did so, a rash developed on their son’s face and mouth and the boy spent six hours being treated in hospital.
The cake had a caramel filling that contained nuts.
“His allergy can kill him,” the child’s mother said, adding that, if not treated, his throat can swell up and stop him from breathing.
So far this year, nine people have been treated at Mater Dei Hospital because of an allergic reaction to food, according to health ministry statistics.
The number of hospital admissions dipped during the COVID-19 outbreak, from 13 in 2019 to nine in 2020 and just five last year. However, they are on the rise again as normal social life resumes.
“Taking our son for an ice cream or a smoothie is causing us stress as we need to remember always to warn the staff as many shops use peanut butter,” Maja said.
“Very often, people acknowledge it but then don’t take it seriously.”
Marouska Galea Carabott, the mother of a 10-year-old, only discovered that her son had a nut allergy earlier this year when he ate sushi.
“We often have issues when eating out,” she said.
“Restaurants often first say that there are no nuts in a dish, however, after pressing further, staff often say that there might be traces of nuts.
“There are not enough hypoallergenic places they can go to,” she added.
What other major allergies are there?
Paediatrician Patrick Sammut estimates that two per cent of children aged zero to 16 have an allergy that has an immediate effect on the body.
This means that around 1,200 children in Malta have an allergy that results in a reaction within four hours, he said.
Aside from peanuts, children can have severe allergies to milk, eggs, wheat, kiwi, sesame and tree nuts such as pistachios.
If an allergenic food is eaten, an adrenaline auto-injector, commonly known as an Epipen, can effectively treat the allergic reaction.
One AAI costs between €70 and €80 and parents should always have two in hand at any point in time. The life-saving injector has a very short lifespan creating significant costs for parents.
“Allergy awareness and accommodation has grown significantly over the years but more needs to be done,” Sammut said.
When their child is not under their immediate care, the Vellas’ son always has an AAI together with a printed action plan on how to treat an allergic reaction in his backpack, they said.
Mariella Porter, a nutritionist and researcher on food hyposensitivity, said the introduction of first aid training to school children and assistance for those with food allergies has been a positive step.
While she said that treatment does exist for those with severe food allergies, it can be challenging.
“Immunotherapy involves the administration of the allergenic food under observation from small doses followed by up-dosing in order for one’s body to accept the allergic food without an immunological response,” she said.
However, the treatment can often be lengthy and have side effects leading many to opt for the avoidance of allergenic foods, the registered nutritionist said.