Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Etiology and Pathogenesis

center dot Acute urticaria occurs in up to 20% of the population and may be associated with an infection, medication, or food allergy. It is generally self-limited. center dot Chronic urticaria affects up to 1% of the population; in most cases, lesions occur spontaneously without an identifiable external cause. center dot There are multiple theories of pathogenesis for chronic spontaneous urticaria, none of which are clearly established. One such theory is that autoantibodies mediate disease in subset of individuals. center dot Abnormalities in skin mast cells and blood basophils have been described in chronic urticaria.