Clinical features of anaphylaxis patients caused by Pachycondyla chinensis

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 2×S.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.