Immediate type of allergy in statis growers.

Abstract

Three statis growers complaining of immediate allergic symptoms induced by harvesting statis in a plastic greenhouse were examined to clarify their allergic conditions. Distinct positive reactions in the intradermal test and nasal and eye provocation test to the statis extracts were shown in all three cases. High score of radioallergosorbent test (RAST) IgE and remarkable RAST inhibitory effects to the statis extracts were seen in these cases. The immunologic cross-reactivity between statis and chrysanthemum was absent in the RAST inhibition in the patient labeled case C who had complained of the same allergic symptoms when handling chrysanthemums in the off-season for harvesting statis. Those results indicated that the allergic conditions of the present cases were from an immediate type of allergy mediated by a specific IgE antibody to the statis extract.