Statistical evaluation and parameters of phlogosis in patients sensitized to cypress

To assess the increasing sensitivity to cypress, we evaluated a group of allergic subjects living in Apulia who had been referred for respiratory symptoms to the Section for Allergic and Immunological Diseases (SAID) of Bari University Hospital in the period between January and March 2006, and compared them with a group evaluated during the same months of 2003. We submitted all patients to Skin Prick Tests (SPT) and Radio-Allergo-Sorbent Tests (RAST). Our data show that the percentage of people sensitised to cypress has increased from 28.6 percent (2003) to 65.5 percent (2006). By contrast, we observed no variations in sensitisation to other substances. Since according to data furnished by the Italian Association of Areobiology (AIA), Monitoring Center of Brindisi 1, there was a variation in the quantity of pollen grains in 2006 as compared to 2003, it seems conceivable that an increase in the amount of pollen grains, together with other factors may influence the increasing sensitization, like the volume and the brittleness of the grain. In addition, other allergo-immunologic parameters are evaluated in order to better evaluate this allergic phlogosis.