Frequency of Sensitization to Animals in a Tropical Area

Abstract

Background: Pet avoidance is commonly recommended to allergic patients, even if an IgE-mediated sensitization has not been demonstrated. This management is difficult to accomplish by patients with emotional attachment to their pets and the effectiveness is controversial.

Objective: To assess the sensitization to different animals among patients with asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis and/or dermatitis.

Patients and method: A retrospective study was performed with 300 previously reported patients with asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis and/ or dermatitis; we organized two groups: Group 1 included patients who were tested skin sensitization to both dog and cat. Group 2 was comprised of all patients with skin testing droppings or feathers of birds (canary, parrot, pigeon or hen).

Results: Sensitization to cat and especially to dog was high (7% and 47%, respectively). The co-sensitization to dog was high among patients sensitized to cat (85%). Sensitization to other epithelia (horse, hamster, rabbit, cow) was low. About birds, there was a greater sensitization to proteins contained in the feces than in the feathers, pigeon sensitization was the most frequent. We observed no differences in the pattern of sensitization among patients according to age, gender or allergic symptoms.

Conclusions: The frequency of co-sensitization with cat and dog was high, which may be explained by shared proteins between the two species as lipocalins. About birds, the proteins in pigeon droppings were the main cause of sensitization; however, it does not seem to share cross-reactivity with other birds and the frequency was relatively low compared with epithelia allergens.