Evaluation of clinico-immunological parameters in pediatric ABPA patients

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis patients (ten in the age group 5-13) were studied with respect to clinical and immunodiagnostic tests. All the patients showed wheal and flare reaction with A. fumigatus antigens. Clinical features included bilateral infiltration and hilar lymphadenopathy. Eosinophilic count in these patients was observed to be in the range of 300-2500/mm3. Sera of six patients indicated precipitin reaction with A. fumigatus antigens. An elevated total serum IgE was noticed in all the patients. A. fumigatus specific IgG and IgE antibodies were increased in these patients. Optical density of the sera of all the patients against controls were observed to be in the range of (0.426 to 1.8 for IgG and 0.147 to 0.562 for IgE) by ELISA. Western blot analysis indicated that there may be correlation between the clinical stages of the disease and immunological reactivity of the sera with various antigenic components.