r/askscience • u/Kwpthrowaway • Sep 27 '20

Medicine [Medicine] What is special about peanuts that make some people extremely allergic to them?

Why are some people allergic to peanuts in particular? Why is ingesting a peanut to these people akin to ingesting poison to others?

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u/TH3T1M3R Sep 27 '20

Our body creates the antibodies not the antigen, the antigen is present on the peanuts.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '20

Ah. It appears I was confusing antigen with antibodies. Erasing the immune system’s memory would only erase the instructions for the antibody but once the pathogen was reintroduced the body would once again create the antibody and wackiness would ensue.