Why are peanut allergies so common now?

Why are peanut allergies the only ones recognized by the public?

• wheat, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, latex, perfumes and eggs among other things can all cause Anaphylaxis (yes, even if it's not ingested/touched, but just nearby) if the allergy is severe, just like peanuts. Most peanut allergies (as well as other allergies) aren't so severe that they die from simply being near the allergen anyway, so why ban peanuts from schools?. Usually they'd have to ingest peanuts for a reaction to occur, so simply don't eat peanuts, problem solved. If you're severely allergic from just being remotely close to whatever you're allergic to, you might as well buy a bubble or something because every place you go to isn't going to cater to your needs. Why are peanuts banned in most schools but not these? You can't give special treatment to certain people and not others and expect them to accept it.

• Answer:

  I'm having trouble finding the percentage of people with each of those allergies where the allergy is severe enough to be life threatening, but I've found that for eggs and wheat it's "extremely rare" and for pet dander, it's not even mentioned as a possibility. Shellfish can also be life threatening and affects a greater percentage of the population, but it's also easily avoidable. The reason peanuts are different is because it is fairly common for the allergies to be severe enough to be life threatening for people who have them. Because of this, even though it is less common for people to have peanut allergies in general, it is more common for them to have life threatening peanut allergies. You are right in that the same thing can happen to people with any of those other allergies, but in the other cases it is either more avoidable (like shellfish) or extremely rare (like eggs and wheat).