The peanut allergy, that has been affecting the lives of Americans, may finally be coming
to an end! 4% of Americans, 3 million of which have been estimated to be children have
been living in fear of the lethal reaction to what ranges from shellfish to nuts
according to an article in USA Today by Rita Rubin. For the first time, various studies
are being conducted to test the immune systems of children for peanuts.

The need for a cure for food allergies, and specifically peanut allergies, has increased
due to the fact that the number of people with peanut allergies doubled over a recent
five-year period, from four in 1,000 people in 1997 to eight in 1,000 in 2002 according
to Robert Wood, MD, director of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

There are a number of kids who are finally able to start eating their first peanut butter
sandwiches. Five out of nine children with peanut allergies are free of their allergic
reactions.  Every day for two years children swallowed small doses of peanut protein
under doctor’s supervision and eventually were able to walk away without an allergic
reaction. Ann Munoz- Furlong who founded the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network reports
that “this is huge for the food allergy community.  We finally can say that probably in
10 years, the landscape will look very different than it does now.”