Abstract
One hundred and ninety-seven infants aged 0 to 6 months who had never received solid hen's egg and sollid chiken meat were studied for evidence of sensitization to egg white by RAST (Pharmacia Diagnostics AB). Positive RAST results (more than 0.7PRU/ml) for egg white were judged as sensitization to egg white through placenta or breast milk. Of 197 infants, 160 had eczematous rash and 37 control infants had normal skin. Sixty-one babies (38.1%) in eczematous group and two (4.2%) in controls were sensitized with egg white (p<0.01). Out of 8 infants who were exculusively fed with cow's milk, 2, with positive egg white, were regarded as transplacental sensitization. The incidence of positive egg white RAST in eczematous infants was gradually increased with age. These results suggest that sensitization through placenta or breast milk may play some roles in development of eczema and that sensitization through breast milk is more common than through placenta.
