Relationship between helminthic infection and IgE response in atopic and nonatopic children in a tropical environment☆,☆☆,★,★★
Section snippets
Study populations
Coche Island has a total population of approximately 7000 people, and the study group was selected at random with the use of census information from the four consolidated villages on the island. Informed parental consent to participate in the study was obtained for 626 children (56% female) between the ages of 2 and 12 years (mean ± standard deviation: 6.8 ± 2.9 years).
All of the approximately 300 family groups established in Barrio Los Erasos, a clearly delimited slum area of Caracas, were
Allergic disease in Coche Island children
Of the 626 children randomly selected from the island population, 380 (61%) were found to have a recent clinical history of asthma and/or rhinitis. Asthma was the predominant pathologic condition, with 92% of the symptomatic subjects reporting this compared with 35% with rhinitis. Although the establishment of a history of dermatologic allergy by questioning was somewhat difficult in this population, and conditions such as atopic dermatitis, urticaria, and angioedema were reported less
DISCUSSION
We have previously reported that the prevalence of allergic diseases, particularly asthma and rhinitis, in Venezuelan children from urban slum areas, such as the Barrio Los Erasos, is substantially lower than in children of higher socioeconomic levels, in which the prevalence is comparable to other areas of the world.11, 12, 13, 24 Evidence has been obtained to suggest that this is due at least in part to suppressive effects of the helminthic parasites that are endemic in such underprivileged
Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. D. Gonzalez and Mrs. Y. Barrios (MSAS, Maracay, Venezuela) for performing the Kato tests.
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From aInstituto de Biomedicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas; bClinica Experimental de Asma, FONDENE, Edo., Nueva Esparta; cHospital Miguel Perez-Carreño, Caracas; dHospital de Niños J.M. de los Rios, Caracas; eInstituto de Medicinal Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas; and fDepartment of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth.
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Supported by CONICIT project RPV 170041, CDCH/UCV, World Bank VEN/96/002/14 (Venezuela), NH and MRC (Australia), and grant SD-000-0309 from Astra-Draco (Sweden).
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Reprint requests: Neil Lynch, PhD, Instituto de Biomedicina, Aptdo. 4043, Caracas 1010, Venezuela.
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