Occupational asthma caused by sewer flies.
Insect emanations occasionally cause allergic asthma, which not infrequently is due to occupational exposures. This second report of asthma caused by sewer flies, Psychoda alternata, concerns a sewage plant worker who previously had developed immediate-type hypersensitivity to wax moths. Evidence for sewer fly allergy was derived from direct prick and intracutaneous skin tests, Prausnitz-Kustner testing, in vitro leukocyte histamine release, ELISA, and bronchial provocative challenge. The ELISA inhibition tests indicated little cross-reactivity between sewer fly and wax moth extract or midge hemoglobin, but direct skin testing suggested possible hypersensitivity to other families of the order Diptera.
D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000276:immunology*; D012882:Skin Tests; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
D001993:Bronchodilator Agents