Peanut allergy - airborne?

[Sarannie]

Hello, I wonder if anyone can help? I don't know much about peanut allergy. My teenage son has come home from college quite upset as he had been blamed for causing a severe allergic reaction in a member of staff.
He had a milkshake at lunchtime (M&M peanut)off campus. He passed the woman in the corridor but didn't speak to her. Next thing he knew the whole class were being asked who had brought peanuts into class. He put his hand up and told the tutor about his milkshake. She told him, in front of everyone, that the allergy extended to airborne contamination and it was the peanut on his breath that had caused the reaction.
Is this possible?
Thanks for reading.
Sarah

There's some stuff on here about airborne peanut proteins causing allergic reactions. However, it is vanishingly unlikely that peanut allergans will get airborne from a milkshake.

There's more information here

I think your son is owed an apology.

Don't know about airborne. A friend can get a reaction if someone has nut on their hands or if they have had nuts on a diiner table.

Thank you so much for your (as usual) prompt replies :)

One of the articles I posted a link to mentions the "bag of peanuts on a plane" problem. Apparently the low air pressure on the plane, compared to the higher air pressure in the bag, means you get a spray of peanut particles when it's opened. It's not something I would ever have thought of but it is clearly a recognised issue for people with severe nut allergies.

I feel sorry for your DS. Were they warned that a member of staff has a severe peanut allergy?

He consumed peanuts off campus - not sure how he can be blamed.

I think they can be to a certain extent. Some airlines don't serve peanuts on flights for this reason as the air is recycled.

we had this problem last night at cubs - we have a cub with a severe nut allergy, and the beavers who had used the room before had been making bird feeders - the seed contained peanuts. it wasn't an activity scheduled for the cubs - just that they happened to be using the room afterwards.

fortunately the mum of the cub was a helper and immediately noticed, and we were able to get the beavers to make the feeders inside, and then transfer to the other end of the parking lot to fill them before they went straight home.

i wouldn't have thought that a milkshake consumed externally would have been a huge problem, providing he had washed his hands etc thoroughly.

our school/ village is entirely peanut free now though (except in private houses, obviously). we just didn't even think about the bird seed - soooooo lucky that his mum noticed before the inevitable occurred.

she was very good about it, but was very firm that the airborne particles could have triggered a serious allergic reaction.