Egg allergy--to be or not to be boiled.

its capacity to generate a great number of radical sprouts. The spreading of Ailanthus in Cagliari’s district has led to high concentration of its pollen grains in April–June, as detected by the pollen trap. Although Ailanthus was mentioned in two ancient books of allergology (1, 2), has been ignored in the recent literature. The possible sensitization to Ailanthus pollen in patients suffering from allergic symptoms (rhinitis, asthma and conjunctivitis) in this season, which corresponds with the presence of many other pollens (grass, olive, Parietaria, plantain, amaranth) has been investigated. The pollen was collected from Ailanthus female trees in the Cagliari province, extracted overnight at 5% w/v in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), centrifuged, the surnatant filtered on Millipore membranes and dialysed. The antigen was covalently bound to solid-phase polystyrene balls and tested by standard radioallergosorbent test (RAST) procedure (reagents Sferikit , Lofarma SpA, Milan, Italy) with the sera of 54 randomly selected patients with allergic symptoms in April–June 2001. The same pollen was used to prepare a diagnostic extract for skin-prick testing according to standard procedure. The 54 patients were skin-prick tested with Ailanthus extract and other common commercial extracts (Lofarma SpA, Milan, Italy). Forty-two patients tested RAST-positive to common allergens, 10 tested RAST-positive also to Ailanthus extract, in class 1 or 2. The 10 Ailanthus-positive patients were skin-prick positive to other allergens also: six to Dermatophagoides, eight to grass, seven to Parietaria and six to olive pollen. Specific-IgE by RAST were positive in seven of 10 Ailanthuspositive patients, six in class I and one in class II. These results suggest the possibility that a cross-reaction between Ailanthus and other pollens could explain the constant multisensitization observed in Ailanthus-positive patients. In conclusion, the pollen of Ailanthus needs to be considered as a possible allergenic source, and its extract should be introduced in the diagnostic screening panels in areas where this tree is widespread. *Hospital Azienda Ospedaliera Giuseppe Brotzu Centro di Allergologia e Immunologia Clinica Via Peretti 09134 Cagliari Italy Tel.: +39 070 539383 Fax: +39 070 539803