Allergens identified by patch-testing in the Craigavon area 1972-73.

JADASSOHiN OF BRESLAU has been hailed as the originator of the patch-test (Jadassohn, 1896). But it is largely due to the work of Bonnevie (1939) in Copenhagen that the patch-test, particularly when exhibited in battery form, has come to hold its present important place in modern dermatology. Bonnevie also established a tradition for excellence in the technique of patch-testing throughout Scandinavia which has been maintained to the present day. A number of investigations employing batteries of patch-tests has now been reported, but the largest of these studies was one carried out by ten European dermatologists and involved applying a battery of twenty common allergens to more than four thousand patients referred for a variety of reasons to dermatology clinics in Denmark, England, Germany, Holland, Italy and Sweden between March 1967 and June 1968. The results of this investigation were analysed and published by Fregert and colleagues (1969). For convenience this work will hereafter be referred to as the European study. We felt it would be of value and interest to record the contact allergens currently prevalent in this area. Accordingly arrangements were made to patch-test all patients referred to our clinics over a period of time whom we clinically suspected to be suffering from contact dermatitis. Exactly the same standard battery was employed as had been used in the European study, but with additional patch-tests when it was considered these were indicated.