The Number of Kids With Peanut Allergies Has Doubled in Recent Years
Just being in the same room as peanuts can send Liam Park into a violent allergy attack. And yet, the 4-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., intentionally eats peanut flour every day.

Liam is part of a potentially groundbreaking study at Duke Medical Center aimed at finding out whether children with peanut allergies can be desensitized to peanuts and eventually cured of their ailment altogether.

"Our goals in treatment are the desensitization, to make them less sensitive and also to make their peanut allergy go away," said Dr. Wesley Burks, chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Duke Medical Center.

A Growing Problem
The number of children under 5 with peanut allergies has doubled between 1997 and 2002, according the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about food allergies. The National Institutes of Health says peanut allergies currently affect 0.6 percent of the population, and approximately 150 Americans die from food-induced anaphylaxis each year.

Liam was diagnosed with a peanut allergy when he was 2, and it changed his family's life.

"It's an emotional roller coaster," said Jennifer Park, Liam's mother. "It just felt like you had to change your whole lifestyle. I mean, we can't eat in restaurants with him because [of]cross-contamination with the foods."

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