# 4-year-old went into anaphylactic shock after another passenger in a plane ate nuts 4 rows away. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516 "2014-08-14T15:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/1 "2014-08-14T15:05:06Z")
4-year-old went into anaphylactic shock after another passenger in a plane ate nuts 4 rows away. > **[Girl, 4, almost died after plane passenger opened packet of nuts](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2724684/Nut-allergy-girl-went-anaphylactic-shock-plane-passenger-ignored-three-warnings-not-eat-nuts-board.html)** > > Fae Platten (pictured) from Essex, stopped breathing and went into anaphylactic shock on a fight home from a family holiday in Tenerife and was only revived by an injection. my question is, is this real? what happens if she were to touch a peanut? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/2 "2014-08-14T15:27:52Z")
I knew a guy in college who once correctly announced that I’d had peanuts recently because when he walked into a classroom that I was already in, his lips began to tingle. I think some people are just that sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/3 "2014-08-14T15:46:43Z")
It’s the Daily Mail (which has basically the same devotion to the truth as Fox News), so it’s almost certainly misreported, overblown, or just made up. To the best of my knowledge, these stories of peanut-allergy-reactions-by-proxy always turn out to be something else in the end, and I imagine this one will, too. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/4 "2014-08-14T15:52:25Z")
So they gave her the epipen injection 20 minutes into the flight, but still continued the 4 hour trip back to the UK? Not buying it. Our youngest has nut allergies & carries an epipen everywhere, and it’s been burned into our brains that using the epipen requires a call to 911 and a trip to the ER. Because you have no idea if she’s going to go right back into anaphylaxis as soon as the injection wears off. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/5 "2014-08-14T16:04:31Z")
How do people who are super sensitive like that survive? Peanuts are everywhere. There’s a snickers bar on every corner. There are open bins of unshelled peanuts in the grocery store. The person who had your seat before you on the plane probably ate nuts. If it’s that dire, I don’t see how you avoid going through a case of epi-pens a week. Do they mostly just live in a bubble? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/6 "2014-08-14T16:09:00Z")
I can barely believe that a person could have such a reaction to just the scent of nuts in the air. It’s possible I suppose, because I hear people say it, but it’s diffcult to understand how a child with such sensitivity has survived so long. What’s truly hard to believe is that they accurately traced the one and only possible cause of the reaction to some guy four rows away opening a tiny package. It isn’t possible that anyone else had nuts, that nuts were already on some surface in the plane or that the reaction was to some other cause? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/7 "2014-08-14T16:12:12Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > It’s the Daily Mail (which has basically the same devotion to the truth as Fox News), so it’s almost certainly misreported, overblown, or just made up. [So pick a source you like.](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Fae+Platten%22) ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/8 "2014-08-14T16:22:35Z")
If the airline was so concerned why did they had out nuts? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/9 "2014-08-14T16:24:28Z")
Last time I flew, about 7-8 years ago, they were handing out peanuts to anyone who wanted them. It seems like every seat, armrest and tray would be coated in peanut essence. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/10 "2014-08-14T16:25:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [So pick a source you like.](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Fae+Platten%22) OK, it’s being widely reported. But I’m still going to stick to my initial assessment, until shown some evidence otherwise. Like tampered Halloween candy and bigfoot sightings, these “distant peanut allergy” deaths/severe reactions almost always turn out to be something else (my guess, the kid ate a peanut that was lying around from a previous flight). As others have pointed out, if the kid could have that severe a reaction to peanuts ten or twelve feet away, she’d have been dead long before now. I won’t claim it’s 100% impossible, but these sorts of things get reported all the time (heck, the girl who died after her peanut-eating boyfriend kissed her was international news), and they have _always_, in my recollection, turned out to be something else. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/11 "2014-08-14T16:26:12Z")
> [@CT\_Damsel](#): > > If the airline was so concerned why did they had out nuts? They didn’t. > [@](#): > > Katy said: “They said there was a child on board with a very severe nut allergy, so no nuts purchased in the airport should not be consumed and they would be selling no nuts on the flight." ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/12 "2014-08-14T17:54:15Z")
What doesn’t make sense is that if the exposure was in the air, the epipen only buys time and until she was off the plane she would have gone right back into anaphylactic shock as soon as it wore off. Did the plane make an emergency landing at the nearest airport? Also, parents need to learn to use the epi-pen. there is no excuse for needing trained medical personnel to administer the shot. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/13 "2014-08-14T19:20:25Z")
Some years ago, a fellow tried to get peanuts banned at the Mariners baseball games. Said he and others with such sensitivities could go into shock just from having them in the general area. However, as a diehard fan, he should be able to see the games in person. This was, I believe, before the advent of the Epipen. I don’t follow baseball so I’m not entirely sure, but I suspuct that didn’t work out for him. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/14 "2014-08-14T19:30:37Z")
From the liniked Daily Mail story: > [@](#): > > After Fae was released late last Tuesday, Mrs Platten voiced her concerns on Facebook in a post which has since been shared nearly 2,000 times. It is also quite possible that someone previously sitting in that child’s seat had a peanut snack nearly 2,000 times. Peanuts are handed out on flights like, well, peanuts. How on earth could the parents of a child that immensely sensitive to peanuts ever board a commercial aircraft? Note that the child was reportedly sensitive to multiple foods, and one wonders what she might have eaten or touched (apart from supposedly having breathed peanut essence on the plane) that provoked a reaction. It is also beyond bizarre that the plane would have stayed on course for an extended flight instead of returning immediately to the airport at which the flight started 20 minutes earlier. True anaphylaxis is a potentially fatal emergency situation. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/15 "2014-08-14T19:43:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > From the liniked Daily Mail story:It is also quite possible that someone previously sitting in that child’s seat had a peanut snack nearly 2,000 times. Peanuts are handed out on flights like, well, peanuts. Not on Ryanair flights, I think you will find. Ryanair is notorious for its cheapness. Strictly no freebies. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/16 "2014-08-14T20:11:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [So pick a source you like.](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Fae+Platten%22) Those articles all seem to be very similar, with just a few differences in words or where the sentences are broken up. I.e., it looks like they are all picking up the story from one source. Certainly, it may be a true story, but the multiplicity of news stories isn’t necessarily providing corroboration. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/17 "2014-08-14T20:19:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Not on Ryanair flights, I think you will find. Ryanair is notorious for its cheapness. Strictly no freebies. They do sell [bags of peanuts](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6204904/Ryanair-has-highest-charges-for-in-flight-food-and-drink.html) though, so one can assume they’ve been consumed on and around that child’s seat on the plane over and over again. note: much the same story as presented in the linked article appeared on the Daily Mail’s website. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/18 "2014-08-14T20:33:31Z")
I read a few of the articles and the only source seems to be the mother. I haven’t found any statements from Ryannair, for example. One article says that Mr. Peanut is banned for life from flying on that airline and another says that the monocled one is only banned for two years. I find it hard to believe that the kid almost died 20 minutes in and the continued on a four hour flight. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/19 "2014-08-14T20:37:17Z")
Yeah, this kinda reminds me of the story a while back about the teen in Mexico who died after drinking an ‘energy drink’. The only source for that connection was the mother–who was hundres of miles away at the time. But the news outlets ran with it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516/20 "2014-08-14T20:47:50Z")
If this story is true at all, it’s far more likely that the kid got an allergic reaction from something that she herself was eating. It’s even possible that she’s not even allergic to peanuts at all, but that her parents were mistakenly blaming peanuts for her previous reactions. If a kid eats a peanut-butter sandwich and gets sick, a peanut allergy might be a reasonable conclusion. But if you switch to bologna sandwiches for lunch and the kid still gets sick, then you should probably conclude that the kid’s allergic to wheat before you conclude that they’re getting sick from peanut vapors from the next table. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-year-old-went-into-anaphylactic-shock-after-another-passenger-in-a-plane-ate-nuts-4-rows-away/695516.md?page=2)