A COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDY OF VASOMOTOR RHINITIS AND POLLINOSIS

Differentiation between pollinosis and vasomotor rhinitis creates grea t diagnostic difficulties. The aim of this study was to conduct compar ative immunological clinical studies contrasting these two distinct di seases. Thirty-one subjects with untreated pollinosis and 29 subjects with untreated symptoms of rhinitis were tested, determining their T a nd B lymphocyte counts and the counts of their subpopulations, the lev els of immunoglobulin A, M, G, D and E, both separately and in total, and levels of both basal and whole histamine. The control group was co mprised of 30 healthy subjects. The results of this study show that th ese two diseases differ from each other (p<0.05) in the recorded level s of basal histamine, total IgE, and IgG, IgM and IgD, as well as the count of T-RFC lymphocytes, T lymphocytes with receptors for Fc IgG an d B lymphocytes with superficial receptors for IgG. The most useful la boratory methods for diagnosing the difference between pollinosis and vasomotor rhinitis appear to be the determination of levels of basal h istamine and IgD in the blood.