help understanding new peanut allergy dianosis

alieb82

My 2 yeasr old's blood test results came back today which revealed that he is allergic to peanuts.  I thought I understood clearly what the doctor was explaining to me, but then I tried going online to understand it even more, but the language they use is so confusing.  He had only a slight positive result for the RAST test at 1.14 which I know is favorable because I understand you want to be under 14.  However, the doctor says the contridicting part is that he scored a 0.51 on the component test for ARA 2.  I understand that this is the most sensitive peanut protein and the one most related to serious reactions for those with allergies.  The doctor said anything above 0.1 is positive so in my mind it's on the low end of the spectrum, but I'm trying to find out everywhere online what the highest number is in comparison...is it 10, 20, 100?  I know that the bottom line is that my son is allergic, and we will continue to avoid peanuts.  It would just make me feel better to know how high the 0.51 rating is compared to "worst case scenario".  Thanks in advance for your help.

shotzie

My understanding is the opposite of what the pp said above. What I've read is that the number value only tells the *likelihood* of a reaction. It does not indicate the *severity* of a future reaction. Meaning, a person could have a relatively low number on a RAST test, but still have an anaphylactic reaction to that allergen.