Silent Killers: Deadly Food

(CBS)  Whenever 3-year-old Drew Randall is invited to a party near his home in Mansfield, Ohio, his mother, Adrienne, packs him food.

A special education teacher, Adrienne isn't just being picky or
over-protective, reports Correspondent Erin Moriarty. A bite of the wrong food could kill Drew.

"The worst-case scenario is that he has an anaphylactic reaction that causes some type of terminal damage," says Adrienne of Drew's severe food allergies.

He's allergic to milk and peanuts, and according to his mother, "even being around eggs when they're cooking causes him to swell up."

Twelve-year-old Jacqui Corba of Greenwich, Conn., is also allergic to peanuts. She can't eat them, or even inhale the dust from them.

"I have trouble breathing; my throat feels tight," she says of her allergic attacks. "It feels like - you're scared that you're going to die."

And it's not just peanuts. Eating anything that was made in a factory that processes peanuts - sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds – could kill her.

It's estimated that as many as 7 million Americans suffer from allergies to common foods, and as many as 200 people die every year from allergic reactions. While no one is quite sure what causes food allergies, the numbers are on the rise.

"There does appear to be almost an epidemic, I would say, in the last five to 10 years," reports Dr. Hugh Sampson, an allergist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

He doesn't know the cause, but says there may be a link with breastfeeding. Ninety percent of the children who develop a serious peanut allergy were breastfed as infants, he says.

It may be a coincidence, he says, but "the general consensus is we'd rather the mothers not eat peanut while they're breastfeeding if they're from allergic families."

Jacqui Corba has had 15 allergic episodes, each one more severe than the last. Dr. Sampson says this is why allergies create such fear in parents. "You're really doing Russian roulette. You know, you spin the barrel each time you have a reaction."

Many food manufacturers have added allergy information to their labels, and Congress is considering a law that would make it mandatory in some cases.

Because Drew Randall has several food allergies and his older brother, Jake, who is 4, has none, their mother has a complex storage system to keep their food separated. One cabinet is stuffed with food that is safe for Drew and another cabinet has other snacks that Jacob can pull out and eat when Drew is not around.

But keeping things safe is getting more and more difficult as Drew gets older and eats out more. At birthday parties, Drew wears a sticker reminding people of his allergies, but even so, Adrienne hovers nervously nearby.

Drew is too young to care about being different but Jacqui knows what it is like to be singled out for her allergy. A talented tennis player who hopes one day to play professionally, she's best known at her middle school as "Peanut Girl."

Because Jacqui's food allergy is considered a disability, her school is required by law to keep her safe. At lunch, Jacqui eats in what is called a "peanut free zone" that includes not only her table but the ones that surround hers.

Even with all the precautions, Jacqui never leaves home without disposable syringes that carry the medicine epinephrine. It could save her life in the event of a severe allergic reaction, like the one she had 18 months ago in a New York deli.

"My mom and I asked, 'Does this have any seeds on the bun?' And they said no," she recalls. "I was just about to take another bite and I looked; on the bottom was about four seeds."

Thirty minutes later, Jacqui felt ill.

"I saw her and she was just gray like the cupboard," says her mother, Diane. "and she started sliding down the wall and I just grabbed the (syringe) and jabbed it in her leg."

Diane rushed Jacqui to the hospital, where she was treated and released. But now she is nervous about eating, especially in unfamiliar places.

"I get pumped up with adrenaline from nervousness and I get so nervous and full of anxiety that I create the symptoms," Jacqui says

Because only about 20 percent of children with peanut allergies outgrow them, Jacqui is going to have to get used to living with anxiety, which is why playing tennis has come to mean so much.

On the court, her only risk is losing a match. "I'm just playing my game," she says. "It's peaceful. It's a great feeling to know that I don't have to worry in that situation."