THE PERENNIAL PATTERN OF CLINICAL SYMPTOMS IN CHILDREN MONOSENSITIZEDTO OLEA-EUROPAEA POLLEN ALLERGENS IN COMPARISON WITH SUBJECTS WITH PARIETARIA AND GRAMINEAE POLLINOSIS

Because the pediatric age represents a good model to study the correla tion between the exposure to allergens and development of respiratory allergy, we investigated the occurrence of a perennial type of symptom atology in children monosensitized to Olea europaea (O.e.) pollen alle rgens compared with subjects with monosensitization to Parietaria (P) and Gramineae (G) in order to confirm OILY previous observations in ad ults. We selected a group of 52 children with rhinitis and/or bronchia l asthma and a SPT positivity only to pollens (30 to P, 15 to G, and 7 to O.e.). Using commercially available allergenic extracts and reagen ts, the following diagnostic procedures were performed: skin prick tes t (SPT), specific IgE assays (RAST), nonspecific bronchial provocation test (NsBPT) and specific nasal provocation test (sNPT), respectively , in patients with bronchial asthma and rhinitis. Pollen counts and a statistical analysis using Spearman's correlation test were also carri ed out. Six of seven children with monosensitization to O.e. allergens showed a perennial pattern of symptoms in comparison to 7 of 23 and 3 of 12, respectively, in subjects with P and G pollinosis. All patient s with perennial nasal symptoms of O.e. group exhibited a late nasal r esponse after sNPT. Although these findings on nasal response,nay part ially explain the occurrence of a prolonged inflammation of the nose i nduced by O.e. allergens, wt? think that other possibilities could be investigated. In our opinion, further studies are necessary using bett er purified and standardized diagnostic materials and, moreover, a gre ater number of O.e. monosensitized children living in other geographic al areas need to be examined for a comparison of our results with thei rs.