A teenager was killed by an allergic reaction to toothpaste as she brushed her teeth before a night out, her family suspects.

Allergy sufferer Francesca Sanna died at her family home in Oswaldtwistle after collapsing from an anaphylatic reaction in October.

The 19-year-old had lived with anaphylaxia for many years and was known to be allergic to dairy products and nuts.

But an inquest into the former Rhyddings High School pupil's death revealed that her fatal reaction could have been caused by an everyday item, such as toothpaste, mouthwash, or even tampons.

And after the hearing, Francesca's mother Kim Sanna said that she believed that it was a new tube of toothpaste that killed her daughter, who was affectionately known as Mim.

The family, who own Franco's restaurant in Union Road, are now hoping that further tests can be carried out on a sample of Francesca's blood to determine if it was toothpaste that caused the reaction.

Mrs Sanna said: "For the attack to come on so fast and so furious it must have been something that she came into contact with between 10 - 15 minutes before she left the house. The last thing she did before she went out was brush her teeth. I could smell toothpaste on her breath as I held her after she collapsed.

"Mim had got a new box of her usual toothpaste about two weeks before hand, but the packaging had changed. She complained about having sore gums. In the case of an anaphylactic shock, the body deals with it at first and then builds up a sensitivity and has an attack - so it isn't always the first time that you have something that an attack will occur."

She added: "I knew every wheeze, every tingle, every sniff of her reactions to things, but this was completely different. The post mortem was carried out three days after she had died so the swelling and the antibodies had disappeared. That has made it harder to find out what caused the reaction."

The inquest heard that on October 6 Francesca, who worked at Blackburn Chemicals, Whitebirk Industrial Estate, and was a part-time accountancy student at Blackburn College, was going for a night out with friends when she was suddenly taken ill.

She returned to her home in, Broadfield, Oswaldtwistle and collapsed.

Mrs Sanna said she was with her daughter within five minutes but she was already quite cold and blue.

Paramedics who were quickly on the scene were unable to get a line into Francesca's throat because it was so swollen.

Mrs Sanna said: "Mim wasn't cavalier about her allergies. She knew exactly what she could and could not eat and was very careful."

Dr Richard Prescott, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said there had been evidence of an asthma attack but this was not the cause of death.

He said there was also evidence of an acute anaphylactic reaction although there was no evidence as to what the reaction was to.

Dr Prescott, said he had sought expert advice from Dr Richard Pumphrey at Manchester Royal Infirmary and they agreed that while there had been an asthma attack the main cause of death was an anaphylactic reaction.

Deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton recorded a narrative verdict which recorded the sequence of events leading to Francesca's death.