title: The possibility of lice allergy among Egyptian patients with asthmatic bronchitis.
abstract: The aim of this work was to study the possibility of lice allergy among Egyptian asthmatic patients. Sixty asthmatic patients were examined by prick skin tests as compared to ten normal subjects as controls using HD, CD, MP, MM, CH, DH, F, W, and two lice extracts: one was prepared from head and salivary glands and the second was prepared from the abdomen. Precipitin tests with the 2 lice extracts were done using the double immunodiffusion test for both patients and controls. Out of the sixty asthmatic patients only six gave positive skin reactions to both lice extracts. All the controls gave negative skin reactions. There was statistically insignificant difference between both groups and there was no difference between reactivity to different parts of lice body used as skin test antigens at the dilutions 1/10 and 1/100. On the other hand, 25 reacted to H.D., of whom two patients gave positive skin reactions to lice extracts. Twelve asthmatic patients (20%) gave positive skin reactions to M.M. of whom 2 patients (16.7%) gave positive skin reactions to lice extracts. Thirteen asthmatic patients reacted to C.D. of whom 3 cases gave positive skin reactions to lice extracts. These results were statistically insignificant. The precipitin tests were negative in both asthmatic and control groups. It was concluded that the lice allergens have insignificant role in asthmatic bronchitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine (Allergy Unit), Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Abou Gamra
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: el Sayeb
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: el Banna
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Farrag
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Morsy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008003:Phthiraptera / Q000276:immunology*; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D012882:Skin Tests
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens