US teenager Stone Cofini’s peanut allergy so bad a kiss on the lips could kill him

NO ONE said that young love was ever easy but for a 15-year-old boy in the US a kiss on the lips could literally prove deadly.

STONE Cofini may not be allowed to date until he turns 16 next January, but his mother is already losing sleep over the prospect.

Dawn Cofini, a hairdresser from Nanuet in New York State is terrified that kissing another teen could prove deadly for her son, New York Post reports.

Stone, 15, is so allergic to peanuts, just inhaling dust from one could send him into anaphylactic shock — a life-threatening state in which airways narrow and oxygen is cut off.

“If a girl had previously eaten something fried in peanut oil (and then kissed Stone),” Ms Cofini said, “it would really be dangerous.”

Stone Cofini risks death if he ingests even the dust from a peanut. Picture: Thinkstock

While her worry seems extreme, four years ago, 20-year-old Myriam Ducré-Lemay, of Quebec, died after accidentally receiving a peanut-laced kiss from her boyfriend.

Peanut allergies are up the United States — patient numbers rose among children from 0.4 per cent in 1997 to 1.4 per cent in 2010, according to a study at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

And horror stories abound. According to a 2014 report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, some 2,458 people died in the US between 1999 and 2010 due to anaphylaxis.

It’s scary enough to send some parents into vigilance hyperdrive, sometimes against doctors’ advice.

“You wave goodbye to your child in the morning wondering whether it’s the last time you’ll see them,” said Ms Cofini, 53.

Peanut allergies are on the rise in the United States Picture: Thinkstock

Kisses aren’t the only things that strike fear in the hearts of peanut-allergy parents. Travel is a big one, too.

It used to be that when Noah Hieu Do, 12, travelled by plane he wore clothing that covered his skin head to toe, plus a particle mask. The peanut allergysufferer, from Gilbert, Ariz., also sat on a bedsheet draped over the seat and floor beneath.

“We just couldn’t take any chances in case the previous occupant had eaten peanuts,” said his mom, Sara Do.

Recently, Noah developed a tolerance for peanuts thanks to a treatment called Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) which he began in January 2016. It involves children swallowing minuscule amounts of peanut flour, in increasing doses, under close medical supervision. (The practice is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.)

“The last two flights (Noah) took to visit his dad in Texas, he travelled without his mask and gloves and he was so happy,” said Do. “OIT has been a miracle.”

This story was originally published in the New York Post and is reproduced here with their permission