Buckwheat allergy is considered a rare food allergy outside of Asia. In Europe, buckwheat has been described mainly as a hidden allergen. Data on the prevalence of buckwheat hypersensitivity in non-Asian countries is very poor. The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate the prevalence of buckwheat sensitization and its association with other sensitizations among patients referred to allergy clinics in different geographic areas of Italy. All patients referred to 18 Italian allergy clinics from February through April 2011 were included in the study and evaluated for sensitization to buckwheat and other allergens depending on their clinical history. A total of 1,954 patients were included in the study and 61.3% of them were atopic. Mean prevalence of buckwheat sensitization was 3.6% with significant difference between Northern (4.5%), Central (2.2%) and Southern (2.8%) regions. This is, to our knowledge, the largest epidemiological survey on buckwheat allergy reported outside of Asia. Buckwheat is an emerging allergen in Italy, being more frequently associated to sensitization in Northern regions.

Immigrants develop multiple sensitisations more frequently than native-born people, and are especially sensitised to local allergens; the country of origin seems to play a role.

An increasing number of children, usually with gastrointestinal symptoms, is diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (EE), and a particular subset of these patients complains of airway manifestations. We present the case of a 2-year-old child with chronic dry cough in whom EE was found after a first diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) due to pathological 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring. Traditional allergologic tests were negative, while patch tests were diagnostic for cow’s milk allergy. We discuss the intriguing relationship between GERD and EE and the use of patch test for the allergologic screening of patients.

An acute massive epidemic of arsenic poisoning in Argentina involved 718 subjects. Urine samples were obtained from 307. The 49 with urine arsenic 76-500 micrograms/dl and 12 with urine arsenic greater than 500 micrograms/dL received dimercaprol treatment. Symptomatology increased with the urine arsenic with increased diarrhea, vomiting and systemic symptoms at urine arsenic greater than 75 micrograms/dL.