[Mite allergy and neural damage].

The number of adult patients with atopic disorders is increasing in Japan. We recently reported the occurrence of myelitis in patients with atopic diathesis (atopic myelitis). The characteristic features of myelitis with atopic diathesis are: (1) paresthesia/dysesthesia as the predominant symptom, (2) mild and infrequent, if any, muscle weakness, (3) preferential involvement of the cervical cord, (4) persistence of neurologic symptoms and MRI lesions, (5) hyperIgEaemia, (6) mite antigen-specific IgE in serum, and (7) normal cerebrospinal fluid findings. The spinal cord lesions show eosinophilic inflammation on biopsy. We also found an association of Hirayama disease, juvenile muscular atrophy of the distal upper limb, with atopic diathesis. In children, poliomyelitis-like illness following asthma attacks is well known as Hopkins syndrome. These three conditions suggest a link between atopic diathesis and the development of spinal cord disease.