The limitation of passive transfer in food-sensitive children

Allergic asthma in childhood.

“…Skin tests are usually of limited value here except for a few allergens such as fish (Aas, 1966;Chobot and Hurwitz, 1937), and the diagnosis must be confirmed or refuted using elimination and provocation diets. Better methods are needed.…”

“…The presence in serum of a specific reagin is, however, not necessarily of clinical importance, for the allergy may relate to organs other than the bronchi, or possibly to none at all (Aas, 1965;Chobot and Hurwitz, 1937). Though tests on serum may come to replace skin tests, the clinical significance of an allergen/reagin interaction for the asthmatic patient will still need to be tested by bronchial provocation.…”

Studies of Hypersensitivity to Fish

“…It is generally thought that the value of direct skin testing in the diagnosis of most food allergies is limited (1,5,21,28,34) although different authors claim varying reliability of the skin test results (5,12,14,17,21,26,28,34). C ho bo t and H u r w it z for example (5) showed that in a series of children studied with intracutancous tests with food extracts, only 20 % of the positive reactions were of clinical significance. When PK-tests were per formed, they (5) demonstrated that only 22 % of the positive reactions were clinically significant and that 18% of clinically significant positive direct skin test reactions could not be passively transferred.…”

Studies of Hypersensitivity to Fish

“…The antibody responsible for this phenomenon is termed 'skin sensitizing antibody' or 'rcagin' (1,33). Although the presence of circulating rcagin is not diagnostic perse of clinical allergy (1,10,33), it is a matter of considerable practical and theoretical interest. Several reviews on the present concepts re garding rcagin arc available (25,33).…”

“…Several reviews on the present concepts re garding rcagin arc available (25,33). The P rausnitz-K üstner-de Besche test (subsequently termed PK-test or PK-reaction) although very sensitive, is of limited use (1,10,33). Since 1921 several ef forts have been made to replace it by in vitro techniques for the demonstration of rcagin in sera of allergic, patients (5,25,33).…”