Sensitization to furry animals in an urban atopic population living in Naples, Italy

in 66/119 subjects (78.5%) by a positive reaction at DBPCFC. In all cases, a delayed reaction was observed >2 h after challenge with fresh pasteurized cow’s milk containing 3.5% fat (vomiting = 39, vomiting and diarrhea = 22, diarrhea and severe abdominal pain = 5). No positive reaction to placebo was observed. The SPT and specific serum IgE evaluation were positive in 40/119 (47.6%) and in 24/119 children (28.5%), respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of APTs is reported in the Table 1. The presence of erythema plus papules had the best specificity and PPV in children with suspected CMA-related gastrointestinal symptoms. A standardized procedure and standardized reading plus documentation of the severity of the skin signs may improve the reproducibility of APT interpretation and reduce intraand inter-observer errors, thereby increasing the accuracy of this noninvasive diagnostic procedure in children with suspected CMA-related gastrointestinal symptoms.

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