title: Occupational asthma caused by sewer flies.
abstract: 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.
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents