The actor Michel Blanc died during the night from Thursday to Friday at the age of 72. According to his colleague from Splendid, Gérard Jugnot, he suffered anaphylactic shock. An allergic reaction that can cause cardiac arrest.
A very violent allergic reaction. According to Gérard Jugnot, Michel Blanc died from anaphylactic shock, as he declared on RTL this Friday morning. “I was told that he had had a huge allergy, an anaphylactic shock, an allergy to a medication,” said Gérard Jugnot.
Anaphylactic shock is an extremely serious, violent and potentially fatal allergic reaction. This shock “happens when the immune system reacts excessively to a substance to which it has been previously sensitized,” explained Doctor Dan Bensadoun, on the set of Morandini Live, this Friday morning.
The most dangerous form of allergy
When the patient is in contact with this allergenic substance, which can be food, medicinal, or following an insect bite, his system then reacts abnormally and very violently, unlike a “classic” allergy.
This anaphylactic shock, triggered by a massive release of a molecule called histamine, will then cause “generalized vasodilation so all the vessels will dilate, and therefore blood pressure will decrease. There will also be a pulmonary reaction with a dilation of the bronchi which causes a lack of oxygen, and this phenomenon can occur in several organs, so you can understand that when everything fails, there can be a cardiac arrest which leads to to death, if immediate measures are not taken,” specifies the doctor.
Injectable adrenaline, a remedy for shock
“The only first-line drug for anaphylaxis is injectable adrenaline,” a medical device that takes the form of an auto-injector pen, notes INSERM, the national institute of health and medical research. It is prescribed to patients after a severe allergic episode and should always be on hand. Failing this, emergency services should be called immediately and the first emergency actions taken,” the institute recalls on its website, anaphylactic shock being considered an absolute life-threatening emergency.
Still according to INSERM, anaphylactic shock, like allergies in general, have become more frequent over the last thirty years. Adults are four times more affected than children.
Nearly 5% of allergy sufferers are affected by anaphylaxis, of which anaphylactic shock is the most severe form. Anaphylaxis is in 60% of cases caused by food.
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