Chronic spontaneous urticaria is not an allergic disease.

The links between chronic urticaria, IgE sensitization and allergy have been much discussed but little studied. We investigated IgE sensitization and allergy in 128 adult chronic urticaria patients during 2006-2008. During a one-day hospitalisation, the patients answered a standardized questionnaire and underwent blood serum analysis, physical tests and skin prick-tests.

[The relevance of diagnostic criteria for latent tuberculosis before initiation of TNF-alpha inhibitors in psoriasis patients].

Background: Initiation of anti-TNF-alpha therapy requires prior screening for and treatment of tuberculosis. Diagnosis of relating to tuberculosis is based primarily on measurement of the papule induced by intradermal reaction to tuberculin (IDR). In this article, we discuss the validity of this criterion and the potential consequences of its use in relation to 15 patients.

Detection and quantification of drug-specific T cells in penicillin allergy.

Drug allergic reactions presenting as maculo-papular exanthema (MPE) are mediated by drug-specific T cells. In this study, the frequency of circulating specific T cells was analyzed by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) enzyme-linked immunospot assay in 22 patients with an allergic MPE to amoxicillin (amox). Amox-specific circulating T cells were detected in 20/22 patients with frequencies ranging from 1 : 8000 to 1 : 30 000 circulating leucocytes.