Allergic Dermatitis Produced by Inhalant Molds

INTRODUCTION

Numerous investigators have stressed the importance of inhalant allergens in the causation of atopic dermatitis.^* Those cases produced by the seasonal pollens are the easiest to prove. No one can doubt that the eczema of the patient described by the Mitchells¹ was due to the water-soluble albumin fraction of timothy pollen. Likewise, allergic dermatitis from the inhalation of ragweed pollen is well authenticated.⁷ However, it is difficult to produce incontrovertible evidence of the role of other inhalant allergens, such as wool, dust and feathers, in the etiology of eczema. Nevertheless, the Tufts and Heck⁶ have presented experimental evidence that dust can produce dermatitis via inhalation. Osborne and Murray¹⁰ have carried out definitive work on the relationship of wool to atopic dermatitis.

Another group of inhalant allergens, the air-borne molds, are admirably suited for the study and understanding of the inhalants in