The ACVD task force on canine atopic dermatitis (X): is there a relationship between canine atopic dermatitis and cutaneous adverse food reactions?

In humans, allergies to foods are known to induce skin lesions in some pati ents with atopic dermatitis. This is particularly evident in infants with s evere atopic dermatitis. Food allergy in humans is an IgE-mediated hypersen sitivity in most cases, and thus has the same (or very similar) pathogenic mechanism of disease induction as environmental allergen-induced atopic der matitis. Cutaneous adverse food reactions and atopic dermatitis in dogs are often indistinguishable from each other on historical and clinical grounds alone. Limited current evidence suggests that dogs with cutaneous adverse food reactions may be predisposed to developing atopic dermatitis. However, confirmation of any association between these two diseases in dogs awaits further elucidation of the pathogenic mechanism of cutaneous adverse food r eactions, and epidemiological studies of the relative prevalence of these d iseases in relation to each other and the general population. (C) 2001 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.