Allergy advice

[JackieSt]

hello,
I wonder if you could help me. While my 4 year old daughter was at nursery today after having lunch she experienced what the nursery staff described as an itchy red rash around her mouth area. It seemed to subside a short while afterwards but the staff were concerned it was a possible allergic reaction to what she had eaten. What she had eaten though (fishfingers, bread and butter, orange and mango) are foods she has eaten many times before at nursery with no previous effect.
Are you able to tell me if you think this may have indeed been an allergic reaction and if there is anything i can do e.g should i give her these foods again to test for a reaction?
If so, how soon?
And if so what should i do if there is a reaction?
Or should i totally avoid these foods for a while?
If this was an allergic reaction could it be the first sign of something that could get much worse?
How can i be best prepared?
Is it potentially very dangerous?

So many questions! I hope you can give me some guidance as obviously i have no clue at the moment as to what i should do.
Many thanks
Jackie

[doctornee medical]

Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
First of all relax! Easier said than done I know. However this is not a life threatening problem. Yes, has the potential to become one if no action is taken. However you are taking action, so things will be fine. Not all allergies are life threatening or serious.

Take your daughter to an allergy specialist. She needs to be tested for common allergens. Most probably it was contact dermatitis to some ingredient in her food. Fish allergy is very common, with people being allergic mostly to sea or salt water fishes. However it could also have been caused by using dirty hands while eating.

Until you have the results of the allergy test avoid fish, butter and orange.  

Hope this helps. It is difficult to comment beyond this without examination.  Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[JD407]

Mango peels have the same oils as Poison Ivy, Sumac, and Oak.  My 7 year old son is in the middle of severe contact dermatitis (it spread up his cheeks, is on his eyelid, forehead, and now popping up on legs/arms) from handling a crate of mangos.  Many people are simply allergic to the edible part of mangos, too.