TITLE:
Contact Urticaria Syndrome from Tofu
AUTHORS:
Maki Kitakawa, Tokio Nakada
KEYWORDS:
Contact Urticaria Syndrome, Prick Testing, Tofu, Soybean
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.5 No.6,
June
15,
2016
ABSTRACT: A-52-year-old woman ate dinner after preening roses in her garden. Immediately, she developed oralaryngeal malaise and pruritic rash. Nasal obstruction and increase of cutaneous lesions were seen although she took betamethasone, 2 mg, orally. Physical examination revealed geographic wheal on trunk and extremities, and no overt mucosal lesions. History demonstrated that she had developed such reactions four times before: three of the four were seen shortly after eating soybean. Tofu was examined by prick-by-prick testing, and prick testing was performed with a petal, a piece of stem and rose leaf, positive and negative control. Positive reactions to tofu (wheal, 5 × 7 mm) and positive control (wheal 5 × 5 mm) and negative ones to others were noted. Although sensitization to soybean seemed to antedate pollen allergy on the basis of interview, oral allergy syndrome could be complicated because of various pollens-specific IgE. Since soy-bean specific IgE was class 2, such titer was not an effective predictor of clinical severity. This case should be classified into stage 3 of contact urticaria syndrome (CUS). Since CUS can be fatal, we must be careful in management for such patients.