PROTEIN CONTACT URTICARIA IN A FOOD HANDL ER FROM DIFFERENT MEAT

A 22-year-old female food handier presented with a history of atopic d ermatitis and pollinosis. A year ago she had experienced pruritus, ery thema and an urtical reaction after contact with different kinds of fr esh meat. Physical examination and routine laboratory tests were norma l. Total serum IgE was 1.766 U/ml and RAST was positive for turkey, ch icken (class 4), park (class 3), beef and lamb (class 2). The prick te st was positive for turkey, chicken, pork, beef and lamb with wheal-an d-flare reactions. Controls wen negative. On mb test pruritus and urti cal reactions were obtained to all tested meat. An urtical reaction wa s also seen on the back after open patch testing with raw turkey, chic ken and lamb No reactions were seen on open patch test with pork or be ef. To our knowledge, the case described here represents the first rep ort of an immediate contact urticaria to five different types of meat providing another example of a patient allergic to meat from multiple species. Our investigations demonstrated type-I-immunological reaction s.