Cockroach hypersensitivity: preliminary study of allergic cockroach asthma in Taiwan.
One hundred eight-two atopic patients were skin tested with cockroach antigen. Of these 182 patients, 54.9% gave positive immediate skin reaction by intracutaneous test. Among those atopic patients tested, 57.5% of patients with asthma and 50.7% of patients with allergic rhinitis were sensitive to cockroach extracts. The specific IgE antibody was determined by fluoroallergosorbent test. Of 79 cockroach-positive atopic patients, 39.2% were found to contain IgE antibodies against cockroach. No specific IgE was detected in cockroach-negative atopic and nonatopic subjects. Bronchial provocation test with cockroach antigen was performed on 15 subjects. Immediate asthmatic response was detected in six of nine cockroach-positive subjects with asthma. Two cockroach-negative subjects with asthma and four nonatopic subjects demonstrated no significant decrease in FEV1. The results indicate that cockroach induces antigen-specific IgE-mediated bronchial asthma, and cockroach is one of the major causes of allergic asthma.
Lan
J L
JL
Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Lee
D T
DT
Wu
C H
CH
Chang
C P
CP
Yeh
C L
CL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000485:Allergens / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology*; D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests; D003058:Cockroaches / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010526:Periplaneta / Q000276:immunology*; D012882:Skin Tests; D013624:Taiwan
D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E