The many faces of allergy in one patient

A patient, aged 63, has been treated for many years in the Outpatients' Department of Allergology. During childhood she was diagnosed with asthma and she was hospitalised for this reason multiple times. Since childhood she has suffered from recurrent symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. She has had status asthmaticus requiring hospitalization in an intensive care unit four times. The patient has suffered from oral allergy syndrome after eating tomatoes. She has been hospitalized twice due to anaphylactic shock. Dermal symptoms concerning contact/atopic dermatitis started in the first year of life. The conducted diagnostics demonstrated the polyvalent character of allergy in the patient discussed. She was not allergic to latex but both in vitro and in vivo tests were positive for grasses and weeds. Lack of sIgE towards food allergens can suggest cross reactive character of food allergy. Additionally, a cross reactive reaction towards lipocalins can explain the reaction after contact with a horse.