Fungal allergy in children

Autor: E. Rylander, L. H. Strömquist, Margareta Eriksson, S. L. Nordvall
Rok vydání: 1990
Předmět:
Zdroj: Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. 1:68-73
ISSN: 1399-3038
0905-6157
DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3038.1990.tb00013.x
Popis: One hundred and thirty-nine children (85 hoys) from a paediatric allergy clinic were included in a study which aimed to relate disease traits of fungal allergy to measured serum IgE antibodies to fungi. A structured case history was recorded and the children were subject to a panel of skin prick tests which included common inhalant allergens and two fungi, Cladosporium herbarum and Alternoria alternata. Serum IgE antibodies to 16 different fungi were assayed by RAST using the Pharmacia extended panel. Forty-seven of the children were positive to fungal RAST and many of them were positive to multiple fungi. C. herbarum gave the highest frequency of positive results. The best combination of three fungi for detecting fungal sensitization was C. Herbarum, Penicillium notatum and Mucor racemosus. Skin prick test (SPT) failed to uncover fungal sensitization in many children with broad RAST sensitivity. Children with RAST positivity to fungi generally had more severe asthma and more frequently recognised summer and autumn to be a difficult period compared with children without such positivity. In stepwise regression analysis, positive SPT for cat had the best explanatory value for asthma and positive C. herbarum RAST the second best. Children with fungal RAST positivities were not over-represented among cases with allergic rhino-conjunctivitis but there was a strong association to eczema. The latter is possibly explained by concomitant sensitization to fungi colonizing the human skin. It is suggested that the identification of fungal allergy in asthmatic children will help ensure that proper anti-inflammatory treatment is instituted during peak spore periods.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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