Wood dust hypersensitivity

Two patients developed severe respiratory difficulty after occupational exposure to sawdust derived from abiruana wood. Both patients had positive immediate wheal-and-flare responses to skin tests with an extract of abiruana wood. Skin tests to other wood dusts were negative. Precipitating antibodies could not be demonstrated in the patients' serum. Bronchial challenge in both patients produced acute airway obstruction that was rapidly reversible. In addition, 1 patient developed airway obstruction 6-8 hr later that was more gradually reversible.