ALLERGY TO PINE NUTS IN A BIRD FANCIER

A patient is described with the bird-egg syndrome who experienced an a naphylactic reaction after eating some of her parrot's food (pine nuts : Pinus pinea). Specific IgE against this nut and another pine nut (P. cembra) was demonstrated by RAST. Cross-reactivity between these bota nically related seeds was shown by RAST inhibition. Besides avian anti gens, bird food antigens should be taken into consideration when sympt oms of allergy occur on exposure to birds.