Survey of Sensitization to Common Fungi in an Allergic Dog Population: The Need for Further Focus on Sensitization and Allergy to Fungi in Veterinary Medicine.

Most fungal species are commensals and non-pathogenic to plants, humans, or animals. However, several species of the , , , and genera are common causes of disease, even for immunocompetent individuals. Besides mucosal damage, fungi may contribute to a skin barrier impairment, favoring sensitization and allergy development.

Allergy to Fungi in Veterinary Medicine: , Dermatophytes and Pay the Bill!

The fungal kingdom comprises ubiquitous forms of life with 1.5 billion years, mostly phytopathogenic and commensals for humans and animals. However, in the presence of immune disorders, fungi may cause disease by intoxicating, infecting or sensitizing with allergy.

Allergy to grass pollen: mapping of and allergens for dogs by two-dimensional immunoblotting.

Introduction: Much less is known about grass-pollen allergens to dogs, when compared with humans. Genetic-based patterns might play an important role in sensitization profiles, conditioning the success of allergen-specific immunotherapy.

Aim: Mapping of () and () allergens for grass pollen-sensitized atopic dogs, for better understanding how individual allergograms may influence the response to grass-pollen immunotherapy.

House-dust mite allergy: mapping of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus allergens for dogs by two-dimensional immunoblotting.

Introduction: Specific immunotherapy has shown to be very useful for allergy control in dogs, with a common success rate ranging from 65% to 70%. However, this efficacy could probably be improved and the identification of individual allergomes, with the choice of more adequate molecular allergen pools for specific immunotherapy, being the strategy.

Aim: To map Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p) allergens for mite-sensitized atopic dogs, for better understanding how individual allergograms may influence the response to house-dust mite immunotherapy.

Performance of an indigenous β-mercaptoethanol-modified antigen in comparison with a commercial reference in direct agglutination test for detection of canine visceral leishmaniasis.

We compared the performance of a locally produced β-mercaptoethanol-modified promastigote antigen (β-ME-Ag) of an indigenous Leishmania infantum strain against that of a trypsinized Leishmania donovani reference (REF-Ag) in the direct agglutination test (DAT) for detection of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). One hundred and fifty-one serum samples collected from dogs belonging to four groups with different conditions were included. At a DAT titre of 1 : 320, statistically determined as optimal cut-off value for β-ME-Ag, and 1 : 160 for REF-Ag, a sensitivity and a specificity of 100 % were estimated for β-ME-Ag in comparison with 96.

The Helix aspersa (brown garden snail) allergen repertoire.

Background: Ingestion of snails can induce strong asthmatic or anaphylactic responses, mainly in house-dust-mite-sensitized patients. The aim of this study was to identify the Helix aspersa (Hel a), Theba pisana (The p) and Otala lactea (Ota l) allergens and the extent of their cross-reactivity with the Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p) mite.

Patients And Methods: In 60 atopic patients, skin prick tests (SPT) to snail and D.