Hello,

I am in a little bit of unchartered waters for myself and have come up across an issue in a new company that I now work for. The issue is that we have an individual who is allergic to citrus fruit, mainly oranges.

Their line manager has put some initail controls in place within the team, sin so far that there is no citrus fruit allowed within the team, while this individual is on the premises. We have also put in place that their 'medication' is always present and ready if there is a reaction. We have also informed the first aiders with their permission.

The site is a office based environment, open plan, spread over 2 floors with a central enclosed canteen area that sells food.

My question for advice is to ask if anyone else has come across and issue like this and what further advice could you give to me on this matter?

Thanks in advance.

Get some clarification on the specific trigger - some modern cleaning chemicals use citrus extracts often thise trying to claim environemntal credentials

Firstly, who diagnosed that this is a genuine allergic reaction to oranges? What test did they apply and what was the result? Genuine allergic reactions to foods are quite rare and there is often confusion bewteen intoleranance and genuine allergy. Usually there has to be some contact between the causative chemical and the person's immune system. This could be skin contact, ingestion or inhalation. Without contact with the causative chemical the immune system will not be triggered to respond. 

I have also had to deal with situations where there was no genuine allergy but there was a reaction by the person, caused by the thought that they were being exposed. This psychosomatic reaction is not uncommon and is well documented in the literature (undifferentiated, idiopathic, somatoform reaction!) There is even a department of psychosomatic dermatology at Giessen University in Germany.

My first reaction would be to obtain more information about the 'diagnosis'. Based on this one could decide what one is dealing with and how best to manage it. This is something where I have some experience so if you feel it would help feel free to PM me with your contact details and I will respond.

Chris

I have a severe allergy - luckily not to a food stuff & I don't need an epi-pen. However, my allergen is in virtually everything - I can't ban it & I can't avoid it, I manage the symptoms. That's life.

Allergies are serious, can be debilitating (& in my case, painful) so shouldn't be dismissed as a 'fad' but a proper conversation is needed. For example, the same cleaning products are used in the office but not on my desk & never sprayed when I'm around.