EOSINOPHILIC GASTROENTERITIS CAUSED BY BE E POLLEN HYPERSENSITIVITY

A 34-year-old Spanish woman with a lifelong history of seasonal rhinoc onjunctivitis and honey intolerance (pyrosis and abdominal pain) devel oped, 3 weeks after starting ingestion of bee pollen, astenia, anorexi a, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, peripheral blood hypereosinophilia and e levated serum total IgE levels, A duodenal biopsy showed eosinophilic infiltration of the mucosal layer, Other causes of hypereosinophilia w ere not found. Repeated parasitological stool studies, as well as a du odenal aspirate showed negative results. Symptoms, hypereosinophilia a nd elevated IgE levels resolved after bee pollen ingestion was stopped . This is a typical case of eosinophilic gastroenteritis by ingestion of bee pollen in a woman with intolerance to honey bee, because the pa tient fulfilled the usual diagnostic criteria: gastrointestinal sympto ms were present, eosinophilic infiltration of the digestive tract was demonstrated by biopsy, no eosinophilic infiltration of other organs w as found and the presence of parasites was excluded. Honey intolerance and/or bee pollen administration should be considered as a cause of e osinophilic gastroenteritis.