Anaphylaxis during anesthesia: results of a 12-year survey at a French pediatric center.

Background: Following adverse reactions to anesthesia, tests are carried out to determine the mechanism of the reaction and to identify the agent responsible. No specific data are available in France concerning such skin tests in children.

Methods: Between 1989 and 2001, we assessed hypersensitivity reactions to general anesthesia in 68 children.

Sensitization to inhalant allergens in wheezing infants is predictive of the development of infantile asthma.

Early recognition of infantile asthma in wheezing infants is a major problem for physicians. We investigated whether detection of early sensitization to inhalant allergens would be useful to identify those wheezing infants who are likely to develop asthma. A total of 67 infants (aged 1-25 months) hospitalized for a wheezing episode were initially tested for reactivity to inhalant allergens by both skin prick test and in vitro measurement of specific IgE antibodies (Phadiatop).

Nasal eosinophilia in children: its use in the nasal allergen provocation test.

This pediatric cytological and clinical study aimed at assessing the value of nasal eosinophilia during nasal provocation tests for identifying an offending allergen. The population studied comprised 50 children aged from 4 to 18 yr; 39 of these had well-characterized allergic rhinitis, which in 21 cases was combined with asthma, and the remaining 11 had nonatopic chronic rhinitis. Nasal secretions, collected by nose blowing, were stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa or Wright stain.