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Peanut allergy is an important public health concern. To understand the pathogenesis of peanut allergy, we need to determine the route by which children become sensitized. A dose-response between household peanut consumption (HPC; used as an indirect marker of environmental peanut exposure) and the development of peanut allergy has been observed; however, environmental peanut exposure was not directly quantified.

We sought to explore the relationship between reported HPC and peanut protein levels in an infant’s home environment and to determine the biological activity of environmental peanut.

Peanut protein was quantified in wipe and dust samples collected from 45 homes with infants by using a polyclonal peanut ELISA. Environmental peanut protein levels were compared with peanut consumption assessed by using a validated peanut food frequency …