Tissue parasites in patients with chronic urticaria

Chronic urticaria is an important diagnostic and therapeutic problem. We aimed to investigate the sero-prevalence of tissue parasites causing toxocariasis and fasciolosis in patients with chronic urticaria. All cases were analyzed for antibodies against Toxocara canis and Fasciola hepatica by modified (homemade) ELISA. The excretory/secretory products of Toxocara and Fasciola were used as antigens (ES-ELISA) in the test. In this study, the highest toxocariasis seropositivity (29.0%) rate and the highest fasciolosis seropositivity (14.5%) rate were found in patients with chronic urticaria. Fasciolosis seropositivity and total seropositivity of toxocariasis and fasciolosis in patients with chronic urticaria was significantly higher than in healthy controls (p<0.05). Toxocariasis seropositivity in patients with chronic urticaria was not significantly higher than that in healthy controls (p>0.05). We suggest that parasitic infections should be considered as an important cause of chronic urticaria. Serological methods should be used to expose the diagnosis of tissue parasites in such cases.