Summary Cutaneous and bronchial immediate allergic reactivity and the serum level of IgE specific for each of four common inhalant allergens were determined for 153 asthmatic patients. Positive bronchial reactivity to an extract was not detected in any of the patients with a negative prick test reaction to that extract but did occur in 9% of the patients in whom the serum tests results for IgE specific to that allergen fell within the range regarded as negative. Highly significant correlation coefficients between the degree of bronchial and cutaneous allergic reactivity to the allergen extracts were found and these were slightly but significantly less than the correlation between the serum level of allergen specific IgE and the degree of bronchial allergic reactivity to the allergen extracts. These findings indicate that the results both of prick testing with appropriate extracts and estimation of the serum level of allergen specific IgE can be used to predict not only the presence of detectable bronchial reactivity to inhalant allergens but also the degree of this reactivity. However, for the routine investigation of asthmatic patients measurement of the serum level of allergen specific IgE would appear to have little advantage over properly performed prick tests.

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pronounced over three-hour procedures, and appears proportional to the degree of manual activity within the team.There is no doubt that palmar sweat contains a variety of substances capable of inactivating iodine. Unless the Disadine scrub is followed by a continuous release of available iodine throughout the operative procedure, failure to deal with recolonizing skin bacteria may be expected. This hypothesis is the subject of further studies.The dominance of right and left hand contamination of surgeon and scrub-nurse respectively remains an unexplained observation. It was not due to a majority of left-handed nurses. In an earlier study in this unit Davidson (1969) showed glove puncture to occur most commonly on the left hand of the surgeon and the right hand of the scrub-nurse. This was thought to be due to the different way in which they handled suture needles. In the current trial the glove puncture rate remained constant throughout. Medical3Journal, 1973, 4, 589-592 Summary This study was undertaken to examine the possibility that IgE is not the only immunoglobulin respdnsible for immediate allergic reactions. A group of asthmatics were investigated in whom immediate allergic reactivity of the bronchi to common inhalant allergens had been confirmed by provocation tests. Their sera were fractionated and the reaginic activity of the immunoglobulin classes was studied by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis testing in monkeys. The results showed that the immediate allergic reactions were due to IgE antibodies in most patients, but there was a group with reactions due to shortterm anaphylactic IgG antibodies. It was not possible to inhibit the IgG-mediated responses with disodium cromoglycate. As these two groups had clearly different serum IgE levels the estimation of IgE provided an important guide to the management of these patients. Conclusion