MANGO, A FOOD ALLERGEN WITH INCREASING SI GNIFICANCE

We report 2 patients with anaphylaxis after ingestion of mango fruit. Both patients had positive skin prick-prick tests with fresh man go bu t relatively low specific serum IgE levels as assesssed by the CAP/RAS T method of Pharmacia. In one of the patients, we were able to demonst rate specific IgE binding bands by western blotting of a mango fruit e xtract. Both patients were sensitized to members of the celery-mugwort -spice group, as previously reported by Wuthrich and Hofer. One patien t was sensitized to pistachio which belongs to the same plant group as mango. It appears that increased popularity and ingestion of this tro pical fruit in our society is associated with more frequent allergic f ood reactions. Essential sentence: Allergic food reactions to mango ar e becoming more frequent in our society and should be investigated by skin prick-prick tests with fresh mango fruit.