On the Composition of Feather Extracts Used in Allergy Practice

The Chemical Classification of Atopic Allergens: An Attempt at Integration

“…from ragweed [26] and rye grass The Chemical Classification of Atopic Allergens: An Attempt at Integration 187 pollen [25], from caddis fly [28], cod white muscle [1], cottonseed [30] and castor bean [27]. In the author's laboratory, research efforts have been concentrated on the isolation of skin-active allergens from house dust [5], human dandruff [10], kapok [9], feathers [14], Graph depicting some characteristic properties of purified allergens arranged ac cording to their nitrogen content. Precipitability with trichloroacetic acid (5-10%): + stands for positive, -for negative flocculation reaction.…”

Pillow talk: have we made the wrong beds for our patients to lie in?

“…Advice to avoid the use of feather pillows and bedding seems likely to have arisen from clinical experience where patients may have complained of allergic or asthmatic symptoms related to exposure to dust from feather bedding, and also from the early recognition that many patients with symptoms associated with house dust exposure showed positive skin tests to feather extracts [ 1]. ‘Feather allergy’ has been, in the past, a common diagnosis.…”

Mites and House Dust Allergy

“…This may be illustrated by the example of the allergens from old kapok and old feathers. Whereas Voorhorst (18), working with skin tests, came to the conclusion that old feathers and kapok contain the same allergenic factor as house dust, Berrens et al (3,4) concluded after the chemical isolation of the specific allergens, that the allergens in house dust, old kapok and old feathers are distinctly different from each other, though frequently giving rise to cross-reactions in the skin test, as do many inhalant allergens.…”