Peanut in Household Dust Linked to Peanut Allergies, Especially for Children with Eczema

Newswise — (NEW YORK - Tuesday November 18, 2014) Exposure to peanut proteins in household dust may be a trigger of peanut allergy, according to a study published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The study was conducted in 359 children aged 3-15 months taking part in the NIH-sponsored Consortium for Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) study. These children were at high risk of developing a peanut allergy based on having likely milk or egg allergy or eczema. The study found that the risk of having strong positive allergy tests to peanut increased with increasingly higher amounts of peanut found in living room dust.

"The relationship was especially strong among children with more severe atopic dermatitis (eczema), suggesting that exposure to peanut in the environment through an impaired skin barrier could be a risk," said Hugh Sampson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Dean for Translational Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine, Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at The Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Principal Investigator for the CoFAR.

Scott H. Sicherer, MD, a lead investigator for the study and the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, noted that it is too early to make recommendations based on these results and that more research is needed. "We need to see if early interventions, such as earlier food consumption, improving the damaged skin barrier, or reducing household exposure will counter the development of the allergy."

The study was performed in collaboration with 4 other sites in the United States and with researchers at King’s College in London.

About the Mount Sinai Health SystemThe Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven member hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services-- from community‐based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians, 12-minority-owned free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, over 45 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, as well as 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report.

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