PMID- 12776446
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20030916
LR  - 20161020
IS  - 1088-5412 (Print)
IS  - 1088-5412 (Linking)
VI  - 24
IP  - 2
DP  - 2003 Mar-Apr
TI  - Fatal reactions to hymenoptera stings.
PG  - 123-7
AB  - Previous studies measuring immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in postmortem sera 
      for determining the cause of fatal anaphylaxis have reported only single cases or 
      small groups. Recently, more attention has been paid to reports of patients with 
      venom allergies who are negative by venom skin testing, by in vitro testing or by 
      both tests. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of 
      postmortem-specific IgE antibody testing in venom anaphylactic death and the 
      range of antibody levels found. Radioallergosorbent testing was performed on sera 
      from three groups: 51 anaphylactic deaths from insect stings, 20 
      anaphylactic/anaphylactoid deaths from food and drugs, and 31 control subjects. 
      Results were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi-squared test, and receiver 
      operating characteristic curve. The sera in the sting death group were 
      significantly different from the other two groups, which were not statistically 
      different from each other. The maximal sensitivity of the radioallergosorbent 
      test was 90% at 0.35 ng/mL, and the optimal sensitivity was 73% with a 
      specificity of 86% at 0.54 ng/mL. IgE antibody could not be detected in 10% of 
      the sting death sera and levels from 0.35 to 0.65 ng/mL were found in 24%. The 
      level of specific IgE antibodies against venoms is not predictive of the severity 
      of anaphylactic reaction.
FAU - Hoffman, Donald R
AU  - Hoffman DR
AD  - Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brody School of Medicine, East 
      Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA.
LA  - eng
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Allergy Asthma Proc
JT  - Allergy and asthma proceedings
JID - 9603640
RN  - 0 (Venoms)
RN  - 37341-29-0 (Immunoglobulin E)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Anaphylaxis/*etiology/immunology/*mortality
MH  - Animals
MH  - Antibody Specificity/immunology
MH  - Child
MH  - Drug Hypersensitivity/etiology/mortality
MH  - Female
MH  - Food Hypersensitivity/etiology/mortality
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Hymenoptera
MH  - Immunoglobulin E/immunology/metabolism
MH  - Insect Bites and Stings/*complications/immunology/*mortality
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Radioallergosorbent Test
MH  - Sensitivity and Specificity
MH  - United States
MH  - Venoms/adverse effects/blood/immunology
EDAT- 2003/06/05 05:00
MHDA- 2003/09/17 05:00
CRDT- 2003/06/05 05:00
PHST- 2003/06/05 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2003/09/17 05:00 [medline]
PHST- 2003/06/05 05:00 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Allergy Asthma Proc. 2003 Mar-Apr;24(2):123-7.