by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

Do you know what to do if your child has a severe allergic reaction"
A new report urges parents to inform themselves about allergies, especially if their child has a diagnosed allergy risk, and be ready to act if a severe reaction occurs.
The report by the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Association found mounting numbers of kids are going to the emergency room because of anaphylaxis, a rare but extremely dangerous allergic reaction that can lead to breathing problems, reduced blood pressure, loss of consciousness and even death.
Between 2010 and 2016, the number of kids treated in emergency rooms for anaphylaxis rose a whopping 150 percent, according to the report, which analyzed insurance claims for almost 10 million children. These reactions are still unusual, but they do affect about 3.5 out of every 10,000 children, the report states. Anaphylaxis is often caused by an allergic reaction to food. In the study, almost 1 in 4 anaphylaxis cases involved allergic reactions to peanuts. Other common allergies included tree nuts, milk and eggs. However, in about half of the cases, medical personnel couldn't determine the source of the allergic reaction. It could have been food, insect bites, or other allergens.

General allergy diagnoses also rose during the study period, although not as dramatically as anaphylaxis. The number of kids diagnosed with any kind of allergy crept up from 17% in 2010 to 18% in 2016.
Researchers aren't...