[Prevalence of Cutaneous Reactivity to an Allergenic Extract of Mus musculus in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma].

BACKGROUND

A high prevalence of sensitization to antigen Mus musculus (mouse) in patients with allergic respiratory diseases has been reported worldwide.

OBJETIVE: To determine the prevalence of skin reactivity to the Mus musculus antigen in patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis in the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Hospital Universitario de Puebla.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, prospective and descriptive study in patients of both genders, from 2 to 58 years old. All patients were attending the hospital for the first time, in a period of 6 months with the diagnoses of asthma, allergic rhinitis, or both. Each patient underwent skin prick test with epithelial antigen Mus musculus. Data were analyzed with SPSS-Statistics software, version 18.

RESULTS

We included 110 patients, 50% were women, mean age was 24.1 years (SD 16.2); 92.7% were from urban areas and the rest from rural areas. The overall prevalence of skin reactivity to the antigen tested was 1.8%; corresponding to patients with allergic rhinitis 2.4% and the remaining subgroups showed no reactivity. One of the three patients with positive skin tests worked in an animal laboratory, exposed to Mus musculus.

CONCLUSIONS

We found a low prevalence of positive skin tests with mouse antigen. However, in patients with respiratory allergy symptoms and a strong exposure to mice or rodents we suggest to perform skin tests with mice allergen extracts.