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Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
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Hymenoptera Venom Immunotherapy Meets Factitious Disorder
Epameinondas Stratopoulos1, Angeliki Leonardou2, Constantinos Pitsios3
1School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
Cureus
|April 8, 2024
Summary
Factitious anaphylaxis, a rare psychiatric disorder mimicking allergic reactions, occurred during venom immunotherapy. Diagnosis led to treatment discontinuation.
Area of Science:
- Allergy and Immunology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Factitious disorder involves fabricating illness signs.
- Factitious anaphylaxis is an extremely rare manifestation.
- Previous reports link factitious disorder to airborne allergen immunotherapy.
Observation:
- A young female patient exhibited symptoms of anaphylaxis during vespid venom immunotherapy.
- Observed symptoms included stridor, dyspnea, coughing, and loss of consciousness.
- These symptoms mimicked genuine allergic reactions to venom extracts.
Findings:
- The patient's presentation was diagnosed as factitious disorder.
- Factitious anaphylaxis was confirmed during the immunotherapy build-up phase.
Implications:
- Diagnosis of factitious disorder necessitates discontinuing the suspected immunotherapy.
- Highlights the importance of considering psychiatric disorders in unexplained allergic-like reactions during treatment.
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