[Histamine liberation and specific IgE against Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in parasitized patients]

We studied 98 patients with different parasitosis, without clinical symptoms of mite sensitization, most of them coming from Guinea. Histamine release to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus was performed using whole blood. Specific IgE to the same antigen was measured by EAST, as well as by an immunodot with the same antigen extract employed for the histamine release test. Finally, the EAST positive sera were studied by immunoblotting. The presence of specific IgE by EAST could be proved in 31 patients, but these antibodies were nor detected by dot, blot and histamine release. On the other hand, only two patients showed a positive histamine release test to D. pteronyssinus and in these two cases the EAST to mites was negative. There was no relation between total IgE levels and specific IgE to mites. The presence of mite-specific IgE showed a significative association to the parasite Trichuris trichiura (odds ratio 3.09). This fact suggest that the specific IgE values found in this population can reflect some cross-reaction between parasites and allergens. It is the author's opinion that the same study should be performed in european patients in order to test the relationship between mite-specific antibodies and the presence of parasites, specially of Trichuris trichiura.