The twenty-one patients with apple pollinosis in Aomori prefecture (Japan) were reported in this paper.
These patients (male: 7, female: 14) showed typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis (100%), conjunctivitis (100%), pharyngitis (38.1%), dermatitis (28.6%) and persistent cough (33.3%). These symptoms appeared at the flowering time of apple tree and was observed during the pollination work in the apple farm.
17 patients out of the 21 cases were farmers engaged in the apple pollination work for 7-25 years. Other 4 patients have lived near the apple farm. Thus, the contact with large amount of apple pollen was thought to be the cause of the sensitization. Generally speaking, these patients had severe nasal symptoms and eosinophilia in nasal secret, and showed high sensitivity to the apple pollen in the intradermal test and the provacation test to the nasal mucosa.
However, IgE value by RIST (mean value: 484u/ml) showed no seasonal change, and the value of IgE antibodies by RAST was lower than those of the other pollinosis, though it was determined as positive. The desensitization therapy with apple pollen antigen extract was effective.
From results of the questionnaire study to apple farmers in Aomori prefecture, 7.34% of the answerer (5240 cases) were suspected as apple pollinosis.
