Date sent:      	Sat, 16 Mar 2002 

Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE among patients with chronic fatigue
syndrome.

Allergy Asthma Proc 2002 Jan-Feb;23(1):35-9

Kowal K, Schacterele RS, Schur PH, Komaroff AL, DuBuske LM.

Department of Allergology and Internal Disease,
University Medical School, Bialystok, Poland.

NLM Citation: PMID: 11894732

The prevalence of atopy [note: see definition of atopy at end of post]
among patients having chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has been reported to
be as high as 80% in published surveys of patients with this syndrome.
However, many of the reports relied on self-assessment by patients for
the presence of atopy or solely used total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels
to assess the likelihood of atopy.

To more critically assess the presence of atopy among patients with CFS,
testing was done for total IgE and allergen-specific IgE using the
Pharmacia CAP system including 20 common allergens: trees
(birch/oak/ash), grass (rye/blue), weeds (common/giant ragweed), molds
(Penicillium/Aspergillus/Alternaria), dust mites (Dermatophagoides
pteronyssinus/Dermatophagoides farinae), animal dander (cat/dog), and
foods (egg white/milk/wheat/corn/peanut/shrimp).

Testing of 50 patients having documented CFS indicated that 78% had total
IgE < 100 IU/mL, among whom 26% had a positive test for allergen-specific
IgE of class I or greater for one or more allergens. Among the 22% of CFS
patients having a total IgE > 100 IU/mL, 73% had a positive test for
allergen-specific IgE for one or more allergens. The most commonly
positive allergens were dust mites (24-26%), whereas molds (0-6%) and
foods (0-4%) were rarely positive.

The overall frequency of positive results for the presence of
allergen-specific IgE among CFS patients was 36%, not significantly
different from the normal prevalence of these antibodies in the general
population (20-35%). This assessment of the prevalence of
allergen-specific IgE antibodies in patients with CFS fails to support a
potential association between CFS and atopy.

[Note: atopy  is defined by Tabor's Medical Encyclopedia as:

"A type I hypersensitivity or allergic reaction for which there is a
genetic predisposition.It differs from normal hypersensitivity reactions
to allergies that are not genetically determined. The basis for the
predisposition lies in the histocompatibility genes. The child of two
parents with the atopic allergy has a 75% chance of developing similar
symptoms; if one parent is affected, the child has a 50% chance of
developing the atopy. Hay fever and asthma are two of the most commonly
inherited allergies; contact dermatitis and gastrointestinal reactions
may also be inherited. As with all type I hypersensitivity reactions, IgE
is the primary antibody involved. SYN: atopic allergy. SEE: allergy;
immunity; reagin."]