Death of Patrick Maxeiner/24-year-old University of Michigan graduate student

So sad to learn of Patrick's death and the confusion over pinpointing the source of the allergen. Having a child who is severely multiply allergic I've thought about what would we do if we loose him. I hope and pray that we don't have to face this!
I myself am signed up to be a organ donor as I've seen what wonderful changes it can make when people can get off dyalisis machines, or go from being legally blind to being able to drive a car. But I've also read that the person receiving organ from peanut allergic donor runs the chance of becoming peanut allergic. Has anyone else heard of this?

I recently read an article (via a link from this web site) stating that an organ recipient had developed a peanut allergy in adulthood. This was shortly after receiving an organ from a person who had a fatal peanut reaction. I'll see if I can find the link again.

I have often thought about the possibility of passing peanut allergy to someone through organ donation, but ponder this: If a person is really in need of an organ, wouldn't he/she risk the chance of the p.a. if they knew that the organ was giving them an opportunity to experience quality life?

Stay Safe, Deb

I had another thought on this thread. I have run across many parents who say that their kids only have a mild allergy to peanuts. Because they only sneeze,have hives, or swell when they are around peanuts, the parents and pediatricians deem the children to be mildly allergic. I think Patrick's story drives home the point of how dangerous a "mild" food allergy can be.

Officials from the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture & the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) are looking into the Jan. 6 death of Patrick Maxeiner. No autopsy was performed and the case was not reported to public health authorities until after the story hit the newspaper. A county health officer said, "that there is nothing in the public health code that requires the reporting of an allergic response to food." Officials could not comment on the ongoing investigation. This certainly seems like a public health issue, since it appears that there may have been cross contamination with the food source and possible inadequate labelling.

To JanB: I found this article about organ transplant and PA confirming the transfer of the allergy in the transplanted organ. [url="http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hmed/971001_peanut.html"]http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hmed/971001_peanut.html[/url]

This article states that the transplanted kidney did not show signs of the PA but the liver did. [url="http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hmed/971001_peanut.html"]http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hmed/971001_peanut.html[/url]
It's so sad to see that the donor died of a peanut reaction but his organs were still able to help others. Guess I've gone off the thread but while searching the web for PA articles, I remembered someone asking about of PA organ transplant donors.

There was a follow-up article on the death in January of a U of M student. The USDA investigation was "inconclusive". There was no contamination found in similar products made on that production line that day. The company involved had on occasion, been cited for cross contamination on there production line. httpp://aa.mlive.com/news

I'll try to put in this link correctly.

[url="http://www.aa.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000527aymaxeiner.frm"]www.aa.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000527aymaxeiner.frm[/url]

Just thought I'd add this link about Patrick:
[url="http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/2000/jan/01-21-2000/news/09.html"]http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/2000/jan/01-21-2000/news/09.html[/url]

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Jana

[url="http://www.seattlefoodallergy.org"]www.seattlefoodallergy.org[/url]

I talked to a Blood Center nurse several weeks ago on the city bus and posed the question about donating blood and organs if you have severe allergies.

She said it was one of the screening questions they now ask people. They do not take blood from persons with severe allergies.

She told me that the allergy can be passed via blood or organ donation.

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