Student Suffers Allergic Reaction From Kiwi Served At School

In Washington State, a high school student went into anaphylactic shock earlier this week after eating in the school cafeteria. Her life-threatening allergic reaction was caused by kiwi. She is so allergic to the fruit that even the air surrounding a kiwi can cause her to suffer an allergic reaction, says FOX Spokane.

The student, Rhiannon Jensen, says that when she is exposed to Kiwi, “It usually starts out with my chest hurting, and throat getting really itchy. It gets hard to breathe, I get dizzy, my lips start to swell.” The 17-year-old was diagnosed with a severe kiwi allergy five years ago.

Since the beginning of this school year, she has had to leave school five times to avoid being exposed to kiwi fruits. Although the school has agreed to tell Rhiannon which days they plan to serve kiwi, that system doesn't seem to have helped her on Thursday. Once the allergic reaction began, school officials called paramedics, and she was injected with Epinephrine to stop the reaction.

The student's parents have asked her school, Issaquah High School, to avoid serving kiwi in the cafeteria. So far, the school still includes kiwi on its menu. Her father says “At this point, I interpret this as an attack on my daughter... They know the consequences, she could have died today.” District spokeswoman Sara Niegowski explained the decision to continue serving the fruit, saying “In a school environment there’s just so much you can’t control... There’s also the possibility of what other students are bringing in.”

What do you think? Should the school ban kiwi to protect a student with a rare food allergy?