We found and reported cases of allergic contact dermatitis among growers of ornamental chrysanthemums. This dermatitis occurs in parts of the skin that come in contact with chrysanthemums during cultivation and forwarding before the flowering.
The occurence ratio of this dermatitis is decreasing. Its ratio in 1976 was 23.1% on the men and 44.4% on the women, but, in 1982 it was 10.7% and 23.0%, respectively. We suspect that three causes were effective in it. The first one and the second one were caused by changing of the kinds of chrysanthemums and moldifying the cultivation method. The third one was done by the device to block direct contacts between chrysanthemums and the skin as much as possible for protection. While, the positive ratio of patch test on growers with the crude extract of fresh leaves of the chrysanthemum is increasing. In 1976, it was 27.3% and in 1982, it was 43.3%.
We made patch tests on the farmers with the crude extracts of the leaves and the samples that were extracted from fresh leaves of “Chrysanthemum morifolium Ram.” (cultiva “Kinriki”). Also, as one of these test samples, we used “Fn-1”, a kind of sesquiterpene lactone, that extracted from Frullania nodulosa. These results suggest that there are two types of allergens of “Kinriki”. One type is soluble in organic solvents and includes such ones as sesquiterpene lactone. The other is water soluble compounds, probably including peptides or proteines.
We found that of two allergens, the probability that sesquiterpene lactone acts as allergens is 55%, the probability that the protein acts as allergen is 15% and the probability that both are effective is 20%.
