The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to help reduce allergic reactions to peanuts in children.
While it's not a cure for peanut allergies, experts say it can open the door to many future therapies.
Peanut allergy is the second most common allergy in Australian children and it's on the increase.
It occurs in about one in every 50 children, and one in every 200 adults.
It is the most likely food to cause the severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis - and it's been estimated that there has been one death for every 200 episodes of anaphylaxis.
Accidental exposures are frequent, with about one in four affected children winding up in hospital A & E departments every year.
Nina Nicholls, who's 18, has lived most of her life with a peanut allergy.
“I found out that I had a peanut allergy when I was about 2, my friend innocently gave me a peanut butter cracker at the pool and I ended up reacting about a couple minutes later,” says Ms Nicholls.
Ms Nicholl's mother, Maria Laura Acerbal says what happened next was frightening.
“She was covered in hives. Her eyes were swollen shut, she was vomiting, and she was starting to have…and she was starting to wheeze when she was breathing,” her mother says.
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