Anaphylaxis to honey in pollinosis to mugwort: a case report.

ABSTRACT

A case of anaphylaxis to honey in a 19 year old female sensitized to Compositae pollen is described. The patient suffered from summer rhinoconjunctivitis since seven years; in January 2006, ten minutes after eating bread and honey she developed angioedema of the lips and tongue, runny nose, cough, dyspnoea, and collapse, requiring hospitalization and treatment with high dose corticosteroids and anti-histamines. After two weeks, skin prick tests (SPT) with a standard panel of inhalant allergens and prick + prick with a number of kinds of honey were performed. SPTs were positive to mugwort, ragweed, dandelion, and goldenrod. Concerning honey, the prick + prick was positive to "Millefiori" (obtained from bees foraging on Compositae) and also to sunflower, limetree, and gum tree honey, while was negative for other kinds of honey, including the frequently used chestnut honey and acacia honey. The allergenic component responsible of anaphylaxis in this case seems to be a molecule occurring in Compositae pollens, as previously reported for other three reports, but also in pollen from plants of different families. Honey contains a large number of components derived from bees, such as gland secretions and wax, as well as from substances related to their foraging activity, such flower nectar and pollens (1, 2). Honey as a food has been associated to allergic reactions and particularly to anaphylaxis (3-6). Among the pollens, the role of Compositae is somewhat controversial, since its responsibility is clear in some studies (3, 5, 6) but considered negligible in others (7). Here we present the case of a patient sensitized to Compositae pollen who had an anaphylactic reaction to the ingestion of honey obtained from bees foraging on Compositae flowers and was tested with a number of different varieties of honey.