Tb. Martins et al., COMPARISON OF AN INHALANT ALLERGY IMMUNOASSAY WITH ALLERGEN-SPECIFIC IGE DETERMINATIONS IN HUMAN SERUM, Journal of clinical laboratory analysis, 12(4), 1998, pp. 213-217
The diagnosis of inhalant allergy can be elusive, with symptoms resemb
ling viral or bacterial infection, as well as immunologic deficiency.
In this study an inhalant allergy immunoassay was investigated as a po
ssible screen to rule in or out respiratory inhalant allergy in patien
ts with allergic-type symptoms. The results of this screen were compar
ed in 192 serum specimens submitted to our laboratory for specific IgE
allergy testing and 73 blood bank samples. When the discrepant result
s of the inhalant allergy immunoassay were resolved by Western blot, a
final sensitivity of 94.7% and specificity of 97.5% was calculated. W
e have found this inhalant allergy immunoassay to be an effective scre
en for detecting inhalant allergies, and believe it to be a useful too
l for the primary care physician or non-allergist trying to differenti
ate inhalant allergens from chronic sinusitis or other causes of sinop
ulmonary congestion. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.