Prevalence and Concentration of Salmonella on Raw, Shelled Peanuts in the United States.

Recalls and outbreaks associated with Salmonella contamination in peanut-containing products have been reported over the past several years. Very limited data existed on the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella on raw, shelled peanuts in the United States. An initial study was completed in 2012 to estimate the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella on Runner- and Virginia-type […]

Adjuvanted Immunotherapy Approaches for Peanut Allergy.

Food allergies are a growing public health concern with an estimated 8% of US children affected. Peanut allergies are also on the rise and often do not spontaneously resolve, leaving individuals at-risk for potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis throughout their lifetime. Currently, two forms of peanut immunotherapy, oral immunotherapy (OIT) and epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT), are in Phase III clinical trials and […]

Genetic Diversity Between Mouse Strains Allows Identification of CC027/GeniUnc as an Orally Reactive Model of Peanut Allergy.

BACKGROUND: Improved animal models are needed to understand the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to food allergy. OBJECTIVE: Assess food allergy phenotypes in a genetically diverse collection of mice. METHODS: We selected 16 Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse strains, as well as the classic inbred C57BL/6J, C3H/HeJ, and BALB/cJ strains for screening. Female mice were […]

Oral peanut immunotherapy‐How much is too much? How much is enough?.

Efficacy of Food allergy immunotherapy (FA-AIT) for cow's milk, hen's egg and peanut at the level of desensitization is established via several small placebo-controlled trials and a number of open label trials1 . First approved treatments for peanut allergy are projected to become available soon including oral immunotherapy (OIT). But there is still a discussion which group of patients might […]

Boiling and roasting treatment affecting the peanut allergenicity.

BACKGROUND: Peanut allergy appears to be less prevalent in other parts of the world than North America and several European countries, and it has been proposed difference in cooking practices may be responsible. In this study, the boiling and roasting processes were investigated to find a potential method to enhanced or reduce the allergenicity. METHODS: […]

Rapidly detecting major peanut allergen-Ara h2 in edible oils using a new immunomagnetic nanoparticle-based lateral flow assay.

Ara h2 is a major peanut allergen that induces rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, and anaphylactic shock. Since peanut is a major source in producing edible oils globally, Ara h2 residues can be present in various edible oils. In this work, an immunomagnetic nanoparticle-based lateral flow assay for identifying Ara h2 in edible oils is developed. This assay exhibits high sensitivity […]

Long-term Outcome of Peanut Oral Immunotherapy Facilitated Initially by Omalizumab.

BACKGROUND: We successfully used omalizumab to faciliate peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) in children with reactivity to ≤50mg peanut protein and with high peanut-IgE (median 229 kU/L). OBJECTIVE: We report on long-term OIT outcomes in these patients, including dosing changes, adverse events, peanut immunoglobulin changes and quality of life (QoL). METHODS: Patients were followed for up […]

Early introduction of foods to prevent food allergy.

Food allergy is a growing public health problem, and in many affected individuals, the food allergy begins early in life and persists as a lifelong condition (e.g., peanut allergy). Although early clinical practice guidelines recommended delaying the introduction of peanut and other allergenic foods in children, this may have in fact contributed to the dramatic increase in the prevalence […]