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BACKGROUNDFood intolerance mediated by food specific IgG antibodies has been implicated in a variety of disorders.OBJECTIVESTo assess the prevalence of food specific IgG antibodies among patients clinically presenting with allergic symptoms lacking laboratory evidence of allergy.DESIGNDescriptive retrospective cross-sectional study.SETTINGKing Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh between 2010–2015.PATIENTS AND METHODSPatients were screened for food specific IgG antibodies. All symptomatic patients lacking laboratory evidence of allergy who underwent food specific IgG testing during the study duration were included.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)Levels of IgG antibodies in patients with unidentified allergic symptoms.RESULTSWe selected 71 patients with allergic symptoms lacking laboratory evidence of allergy. There were 49 female and 22 male patients mean age 38.8 (16.0) years. The majority (85.7%) had urticaria. The most frequently occurring food specific IgG antibodies were against cola nut in 80.3% of patients followed by yeast in 78.9%, wheat in 77.5%, red kidney bean in 71.8%, pea in 63.4%, corn in 62% and egg white in 62% of the patients. Compared with male patients, females harbored significantly higher food specific IgG antibodies for frequently occurring food materials, particularly against wheat (74% vs 25.5%; P<.0001), corn (77.3% vs 22.7%; P<.0001) and cola nut (71.9% vs 28.1%; P<.001). Patients aged less than 40 years had higher levels of food specific IgG against gliadin (P<.003), egg white (P<.03) and barley (P<.05) compared with older patients.CONCLUSIONThe detection of a variety of food specific IgG antibodies among patients with allergic symptoms indicates a possible link to food intolerance allergy. Females are prone to develop food intolerance more than males.LIMITATIONSDifficulty of comparison of results with previous studies because of lack of data. Follow-up studies could not be performed to assess the effects of elimination from the diet due to limited time allocated for this study.

Introduction: The increasing frequency and antibiotic resistance among extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs)-producing bacteria are posing a serious threat. This study sought to investigate the frequency and antibiotic susceptibility of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae at a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: Data were collected from samples sent to the microbiology laboratory between 2006 and 2010 at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh. ESBLs were confirmed using Etest strips of cefotaxime/cefotaxime + clavulanic acid, ceftazidime/ceftazidime + clavulanic acid, and cefepime/cefepime + clavulanate. Results: Out of 17,105 samples, 1,076 (6.3%) ESBL-producing isolates of E. coli (808) and K. pneumoniae (268) were confirmed. Among these, 680 (63.2%) isolates were found in urine samples, followed by 287 (26.7%) in superficial swabs, deep wounds swabs, tissues and sterile body fluids, 71 (6.6%) in respiratory, and 38 (3.5%) in blood samples. The overall frequency rates of ESBL E. coli and K. pneumoniae were 6.6% and 5.5%, respectively. The frequency of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae increased significantly during the study period. E. coli resistance against cotrimoxazole was 71.1%, followed by ciprofloxacin (68.2%) and gentamicin (47%). Similarly, 62.7% of K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to gentamicin, 59.5% to cotrimoxazole, and 49.8% to ciprofloxacin. There was no statistically significant change in antimicrobial resistance over the study period. Conclusions: Although the frequency rates of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae increased, no change in the anti-microbial susceptibility was observed over the study period.