Help! Will exposure to smell increase antibodies?

Antibodies are a red herring in this discussion as antibodies in the body fight infection and have nothing to do with the body's reaction to allergens.

If you are trying to avoid exposure of any type then you should choose a separate lunchroom. If you feel that odour is not a problem then choose the integrated plan. Truely anaphylactic reactions to aerosolized nuts (odour) are rare, almost unknown. Some lesser allergic symptoms are more common but the majority of allergic persons do not react to the smell of nuts. Send a note to FAAN or AAIA by email and ask them for the actual statistics.

That said my child eats in a separate location because he gets some allergic symptoms (never anaphylaxis--yet) when he is around children eating peanut butter sandwiches. His eyes and nose run and he feels queasy sometimes. His life is full of opportunities to interact with other kids, in the classroom, on the playground, at day camps, swimming and gym and on and on so this little time (20 minutes) spent with a friend or another allergic child eating separately has never been upsetting.

Hope this helps. Take care.

Peanutkate... I beleive that The RAST (radio-allergo-sorbent test) looks for peanut-specific IgE (immunoglobulin E) antibody levels. These antibodies are what cause the histimine reaction to the allergin. Peanut antibodies are what make the person allergic to peanuts.

I suspect that airborne exposures do raise antibody levels, though I have no proof of this YET.

Here's how I'm going to get proof... I had a RAST test done about a year and a half ago. Since then I have had no ingestion exposures to peanuts. About 6 months ago I started teaching 2 and 3 year olds once a week and have been exposed to lots of airborn peanuts during lunches. I think I'll have my allergist run another RAST test on me and see how high my antibody levels have gone [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

I'll post back after I get the results...

Rebekah