J Asthma Allergy Clin Immunol.  2001 Feb;21(1):90-95.

Clinical features of anaphylaxis patients caused by Pachycondyla chinensis

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea. hspark@madang.ajou.ac.kr

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There have been a few cases of anaphylaxis caused by a sting from Pachycondyla chinensis (PC). This study was conducted to observe clinical features of seven PC-induced anaphylaxis patients, and to evaluate the role of serum specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Seven patients with PC-induced anaphylaxis and 15 unexposed heal- thy controls were enrolled. PC was collected at patients' home and prepared as PC extract. Four patients had complained of bee and wasp sting anaphylaxis. Serum specific IgE and specific IgG4 antibodies were detected by ELISA. Positive cut-off value for specific IgE and specific IgG4 was decided as mean plus 2xS.D. of absorbance value of controls.
RESULTS
There were six(86%) female subjects and one male subject. Five(71%) patients resided in Kyoung-Ki do. Four(57%) patients had positive allergy skin prick test to ant antigen. Four (57%) patients had other allergic diseases such as asthma, urticaria and allergic rhinitis. Four(57%) patients had experienced anaphylaxis after bee and wasp sting. All patients had positive serum specific IgE and six(86%) patients had positive serum specific IgG4.
CONCLUSION
IgE-mediated reaction contributed to development of PC-induced anaphylaxis. Specific IgG4 does not seem to have a protective role in PC-induced anaphylaxis patients. Further studies will be needed to evaluate a possible cross-reactivity between ant, and bee venoms.

Keyword

Pachycondyla Chinensis; anaphylaxis; bee and wasp venom; specific IgE; specific IgG4

MeSH Terms

Anaphylaxis*
Antibodies
Ants
Asthma
Bee Venoms
Bees
Bites and Stings
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Humans
Hypersensitivity
Immunoglobulin E
Immunoglobulin G
Male
Rhinitis
Skin
Urticaria
Wasps
Antibodies
Bee Venoms
Immunoglobulin E
Immunoglobulin G
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