Abstract
We report two schoolchildren who developed dyspnea after eating school lunches that contained Candida utilis (torula yeast) used as a flavoring. Case 1: A seven-year-old boy. The patient had suffered only three asthma attacks up to the time of elementary school entrance, but thereafter visited my clinic because of frequently repeated asthma attacks. His mother reported that he had suffered 11 of 12 asthma attacks on days when soup had been served for school lunch. A subsequent prick test using a sample of the soup elicited a positive result. Case 2: An eight-year-old boy. The patient had suffered from wheezing since the age of two years, but this had improved up to the age of seven years. At eight years of age, however, he had begun to suffer repeated symptoms that included an itchy throat, cough and dyspnea after taking school lunch. These episodes had developed eleven out of twelve times the boy had eaten school lunch containing Candida utilis. He suspected that the soup served may have been the cause of his symptoms, and a subsequent prick test using a sample of the soup elicited a positive result. Both of these patients were positive for specific IgE against Candida utilis, and the percentages of specific IgE inhibition by Candida utilis were 100% and 98.8%, respectively. Both were confirmed to have IgE specific to Candida utilis, and a prick test using a meal sample was useful for diagnosis.
