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A young man from Naples has died after going out for an ice cream with his friends.
16-year-old Adriano dreamed of becoming a captain. Water and the sea was truly in his DNA. The ambitious teenager from the south of Italy studied at the maritime school in Bagnoli in order to materialize his dream. However, an innocent outing with his friends abruptly ended his life.
Adriano had been struggling with a cow's milk allergy since childhood. According to Italian media, the boy was very careful and therefore knew very well what he could and could not eat. On Saturday, he went with his friends to his favorite ice cream parlor in Casoria near Naples, when he suddenly had a severe allergic reaction after eating a scoop of sorbet ice cream.
"He always made sure he read every label and checked the ingredients to perfection. He never made a mistake," his mother told Italian newspaper Il Mattino. On Saturday, however, things went thoroughly wrong.
The Italian teen suddenly began to feel nauseous and began to experience severe shortness of breath. His friends didn't hesitate for a moment, lifted him up and immediately took him to his father house a little further down the road. The father, Mauro, hastily tried to save his son by administering cortisone. It's not clear whether an adrenaline injection was also administered since that's the standard life-saving action during such a severe allergic reaction. Emergency services quickly arrived at the scene, but could only determine the teen's death upon arrival.
Mistake in the kitchen or dirty spoon?
The prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the exact circumstances of the tragedy. Samples were taken and kitchen equipment from the ice cream parlor was confiscated for analysis. Investigators are strongly considering cross-contamination. They're investigating, for example, whether the ice cream scoop may not have been cleaned properly, allowing unnoticed traces of milk protein to enter the fruity ice cream. After all, even the smallest trace of an allergen can trigger a life-threatening anaphylactic shock in people with extreme allergies.
An autopsy should soon shed more light on the exact cause of Adriano's death.
©Alexandra Tran via Unsplash - illustration image