Contact Dermatitis 1999 May;40(5):269-72 


Chronic fatigue syndrome and nickel allergy.

Marcusson JA, Lindh G, Evengard B

Department of Dermatology, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.


[Medline record in process]

50 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 73 controls were patch
tested with 8 metal allergens. We found an overrepresentation of allergies
among the CFS patients, which was not significant. However, allergy to nickel
occurred in 36% of patients in the CFS group and in 19% of subjects in the
control group (p<0.05). The high frequency of nickel allergy was more
noteworthy in females in the CFS group than among female controls (52% and 24%,
respectively, p<0.05). Similarly, in the males the figures were 14% and 9%. We
suggest that in vivo immunoactivation by ions of nickel, or metal
cross-reacting with nickel, could be an etiological factor in CFS.

PMID: 10344482, UI: 99274279

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