Occupational airborne allergic contact dermatitis from garlic with concurrent Type I allergy

Garlic (Allium sativum L.): Adverse effects and drug interactions in humans

“…Cases of occupational allergic contact dermatitis include eczematous eruption on the finger-tips of the left hand in a 24 year old cook [48]; hand dermatitis in a 49 year old Italian fitter and turner with a regular contact with garlic during food preparation [49]; sub-erythrodermic eczematous reaction in a 54 year old Asian man who had been in periodic contact with pure garlic powder in the preceding seven months [50]; eczematous rash over both forearms in a 51 year old woman two months after coming into contact with garlic [51]; eczema of the hands in three cooks [52]; eczema in three cooks who showed positive reactions to piece of garlic and onion [53]; burning sensation, rush and swelling of the left hand in a 42 year old female cook [54]; itchy eruption affecting the fingertips of a 48 year old right-hander maintenance carpenter, who did the household cooking approximately 4 -5 nights per week [55]; itching, fissuring and redness of the fingertips in a 41 year old Chinese janitor [56].…”

Health hazard evaluation report: evaluation of a garlic paste production process.

“…Researchers have found that inhaled garlic dust can cause allergic asthma and inflammation of the mucous membranes inside the nose in cooks and garlic workers [Falleroni et al 1981;Lybarger et al 1982;Añibarro et al 1997;Jappe et al 1999;Pires et al 2002;Bassioukas et al 2004;Hubbard and Goldsmith 2005]. Some people who are allergic or sensitive to garlic have had reactions to diallyl disulfide, allyl propyl disulfide, 2-propenethiol, and allicin compounds that are present in crushed garlic [Papageorgiou et al 1983;Hubbard and Goldsmith 2005].…”

Plants and Plant Products

“…A typical presentation is a circumscribed irritable hyperkeratotic eczema on the fingers of one or both hands; sometimes the thumb, index and middle fingers of the nondominant (usually left) hand which may be used to grasp the garlic bulb whilst the knife is held in the right hand [79]. Less distinct patterns of eczema are likely more frequent than the presentation described above, but remarkable situations can occur, such as haemorrhagic and blistering contact dermatitis [80], cheiropompholyx associated with the ingestion of garlic extract [81], dermatitis of the elbow flexures, lower back and periorbital regions with cheilitis [82], or airborne dermatitis due to garlic powder, which was also reported as a cause of immediate-type reactions such as conjunctivitis, rhinitis and asthma [83].…”