What should we know about hypersensitivity to peanuts in topical preparations.

The rising prevalence of food allergies poses an BLOCKINincreasingly BLOCKINimportant BLOCKINclinical BLOCKINproblem. BLOCKINPeanut is one of the most potent allergens, and allergic reactions to peanuts may even be fatal. BLOCKINA great proportion of hypersensitive individuals manifest allergic reaction on their first exposure to peanut containing food, pointing to pre-existing sensitiza-tion. BLOCKINTherefore, BLOCKINthe BLOCKINquestion BLOCKINarises BLOCKINwhether BLOCKINpea-nut BLOCKINcontaining BLOCKINtopical BLOCKINpreparations BLOCKINare BLOCKINsafe BLOCKINor BLOCKINepi-cutaneous sensitization is still possible. A considerable increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases has been recorded in the past few decades, in industrialized countries in particular. This increasing tendency primarily refers to type I allergic diseases such as allergic asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic dermatitis. Such a significantly rising tendency has not been recorded BLOCKINfor BLOCKINother BLOCKINtypes BLOCKINof BLOCKINallergic BLOCKINdisease BLOCKINsuch as cytotoxic reactions (type II), immune complex diseases (type III) and delayed immune response reactions (type IV) (1). The rise in the prevalence of food allergies poses BLOCKINa BLOCKINmajor BLOCKINclinical BLOCKINproblem. BLOCKINConsidering BLOCKINvari-ous foodstuffs, peanut is one of the most potent allergens, as 1% of the Western world populations suffer from peanut hypersensitivity (2). Clinical manifestations BLOCKINof BLOCKINpeanut BLOCKINallergy BLOCKINare BLOCKINvariable, BLOCKINfrom urticaria, gastrointestinal and respiratory discomforts through severe clinical manifestations such as anaphylactic shock (3). Peanuts account for as many as 63% of fatal food allergic reactions (4). Peanut BLOCKINcontains BLOCKINproteins BLOCKINthat BLOCKINare BLOCKINresponsible BLOCKINfor its high allergenic potency. BLOCKINA number of proteins have been isolated and identified as peanut aller-gens, designated Ara h 1 – Ara h 8 (4) after the Latin name of the plant, Arachis hypogaea (5). Some of these protein clones have now been synthesized (6). The minimal amount of the protein considered adequate to cause allergic reaction is 50-100 mg (7). Peanut oils may pose great problem in sensitized individuals due to residual protein BLOCKINthey BLOCKINcontain, BLOCKINdepending BLOCKINon BLOCKINthe BLOCKINmanufac-turing technology. Refined oils contain 100 times less protein than non-refined ones (5,7). In a study conducted in Great Britain, none of the 60 subjects with known peanut allergy showed allergic reac