title: Cockroach hypersensitivity: preliminary study of allergic cockroach asthma in Taiwan.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E