WASHINGTON — Fatal allergic reactions are rare, but they do happen. A Fairfax woman was killed by an insect sting this summer, and many schools in the Washington D.C. area stock epinephrine to counter potentially dangerous food reactions in kids.
But it turns out the biggest cause of fatal reactions is medicine.
Researchers in New York and California analyzed death certificates from 1999 to 2010 using a national data base. They found 2,458 deaths linked to anaphylaxis — a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.
Almost 60 percent of those deaths were linked to medication. Insect stings and bites accounted for another 15.2 percent, and food caused 6.7 percent. The rest of the cases cited no specific cause.
The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, confirms what has been suspected for some time: that medicine is a major trigger of anaphylaxis-related deaths in the United States.
In most of the cases that were reviewed, the exact medication at fault was not named. But in those where it was identified, 40 percent of the time, it was an antibiotic. The next most common class of reaction-producing drugs was radiocontrast agents used in diagnostic imaging tests.
The researchers also found that those most at risk of having a fatal allergic reaction were older adults. Their study found African Americans have a higher risk of dying from drug and food reactions, while whites are far more at risk of dying from an insect sting.
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