Fish allergy in atopic children.
The prevalence of fish allergy among 11 atopic children with elevated levels of specific immunoglobulin (Ig) E for cod was determined. None of the children had a history of fish allergy. All of the children had asthma and allergic rhinitis and 5 of them had also atopic dermatitis. The children underwent allergy skin tests (codfish, tuna, catfish, salmon, flounder, and bass), specific IgE tests (salmon, trout, tuna, eel, and mackerel), and food challenge tests. Skin tests in cod-specific IgE-positive children were positive for codfish in 4 children, tuna in 2, catfish in 2, salmon in 6, flounder in one, and bass in 2. Three children had elevated specific IgE for salmon, 5 for trout, 8 for tuna, 4 for eel, and 4 for mackerel. Oral fish challenge with 10 g of fish did not result in positive reaction in any of the children. In conclusion, a positive food challenge test provided the only definitive confirmation of fish allergy, whereas positive allergy skin tests or positive specific IgE tests were less reliable. Skin tests and in vitro specific IgE assays were not correlated with clinical symptoms of fish allergy, and the results of these 2 tests did not correlate with each other in this study.
Peng
Y H
YH
Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Shyur
S D
SD
Chang
C L
CL
Lai
C L
CL
Chu
S H
SH
Wu
W C
WC
Wu
C Y
CY
D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000209:etiology*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic; D005399:Fishes; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis; D011852:Radioallergosorbent Test; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000150:complications; D012882:Skin Tests
D007073:Immunoglobulin E