"Deadly with Just One Lick" 9-Year-Old Girl Dies After One Bite of Ice Cream

Habiba Kishti, who collapsed and died after eating ice cream. Photo by Daily Mail, Twitter capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] A 9-year-old girl in the UK died after showing an allergic reaction to nuts following a bite of ice cream.

According to the British media Daily Mail on the 25th (local time), 9-year-old Habiba Kishti went on vacation with her family to the Costa del Sol coast in Spain in February 2019. After taking a bite of ice cream with chocolate sauce at an ice cream shop, Habiba collapsed at the hotel that evening and was rushed to the hospital, but she eventually died two days later.

The attending coroner stated that Habiba's cause of death was "anaphylactic shock (hypersensitivity shock)," and a lethal amount of nuts was found in Habiba's body, who had severe allergies to nuts and eggs.

Anaphylactic shock, a severe acute allergic reaction, is a condition in which rapid systemic allergic symptoms appear shortly after exposure to an allergen or specific stimulus. More than half of the causes of anaphylaxis are food-related, and typical symptoms include skin symptoms such as rash or itching, but breathing difficulties, wheezing, or in severe cases, a drop in blood pressure leading to fainting or death can occur.

At the hearing held at the Bradford Coroner's Court on the 25th, Habiba's father said he asked the ice cream vendor three times whether the ice cream contained nuts. The vendor replied "no" all three times, but it was confirmed that the ice cream contained five types of nuts, including peanuts and almonds.

Professor Marta Cohen, a pediatric pathologist at Sheffield Children's Hospital, stated in court, "For someone with allergies, even one lick of the ice cream can be fatal," and added, "Ice cream potentially contains one or more allergenic substances."

Habiba's father also said, "I performed CPR myself when Habiba collapsed," and stated that no hotel medical staff stepped forward. He continued, "Even though the ambulance arrived, they did not take the parents, so we had to chase after it by taxi," demanding a response from the hotel and hospital.