Cockroach allergens and asthma in Brazil: Identification of tropomyosin as a major allergen with potential cross-reactivity with mite and shrimp allergens☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Subjects and skin testing
A total of 134 patients participated in the study. Ninety-five were 4 to 18 years old with moderate-to-severe asthma and rhinitis (78 patients) or with rhinitis alone (17 patients), and all were seen at the Pediatric Allergy Clinic at the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Thirty-nine were children and young adults 2 to 25 years old with asthma and rhinitis (24 patients) or with rhinitis alone (15 patients), who attended the Pediatric Allergy Clinic at
Prevalence of cockroach allergy among asthmatic subjects in Brazil
Children and young adults with asthma, rhinitis, or both living in 2 cities in Southeast Brazil (Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo) had positive immediate skin test responses to cockroach. By using skin prick tests to determine the diagnosis of cockroach allergy, 73 of 134 patients (55%) had a positive skin test response to B germanica or P americana (Fig 1, A and B ).
DISCUSSION
Our results of skin testing revealed that a proportion of children and young adults with asthma, rhinitis, or both who live in Brazil are allergic to cockroaches. The prevalence of 55% positive skin prick test responses to B germanica or P americana among our patients is comparable with the prevalence previously found among low-income patients living in large US cities, including New York35 and Chicago,36 and it is higher than the prevalence in other areas.5 Combined results from prick and
Acknowledgements
We thank Ms Kátia Tobias and Ms Andreia Kuramoto for technical assistance; Mrs Vani Alves, Department of Morphology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto-USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, for preparing the frozen sections; and Dr William Swaim, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md, for his assistance with microscopy. We also thank Dr Susheela Sridhara for helping with sequence analysis, and Jolanda van Leewen for producing the anti-D
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2020, World Allergy Organization JournalCitation Excerpt :Similarly, the German cockroach was associated with severe persistent asthma at base line in Kenya. Cockroaches are known to produce many proteins that induce IgE antibody responses with a high reactivity using skin prick test and potential cross-reactivity with mite allergens.43 German cockroach feces have also been shown to be rich in allergens.44
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Supported by Fundaçad de Ampara à Pesquisa de Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), São Paulo, Brazil; by the Netherlands Asthma Foundation grant no. 88.28; and by National Institutes of Health grants AI 32557 and AI 34607. L. Karla Arruda is recipient of a Young Investigator Award from FAPESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Reprint requests: L. Karla Arruda, MD, Department of Immunology, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto–USP, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto, SP 14049-900, Brazil.
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