Sir,.
We thank the authors for their interest in our article “Seasonal Variation in contact hypersensitivity to Parthenium in patients of Parthenium dermatitis” Verma et al.[1] The authors conducted a retrospective study at an immunology clinic on patients with clinical symptoms of rhinitis/asthma and determined the values of total IgE and ragweed (w1 ImmunoCAP) specific IgE (spIgE) in their patients between October 2013 and September 2015 (two winters and two summers). They found that 25.5%, (50/96) patients were positive for w1 spIgE with a slight elevation in the median w1 spIgE value in summer of 2015 which was however, statistically not significant.[2]
In our study, we evaluated the seasonal variation in the titer of contact hypersensitivity to Parthenium in patients having allergic contact dermatitis to Parthenium where we measured Type IV hypersensitivity response and showed that the response was increased in summers.[1]
In one of our previous studies, we evaluated dysregulation of T(H) type cytokines in patients of Parthenium dermatitis where the mean total IgE levels in patients of Parthenium dermatitis and healthy subjects were determined which showed that the mean total IgE levels were not significantly elevated in patients of Parthenium dermatitis.[3] However, we did not specifically look for Parthenium/ragweed spIgE values.
We appreciate and concur the authors’ suggestion that strategic planning of controlling the spread/growth of Parthenium hysterophorus is required all over the country.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
- 1.Verma KK, Singh S, Kumar P, Pandey RM. Seasonal variation in contact hypersensitivity to parthenium in patients of Parthenium dermatitis. Indian J Dermatol. 2016;61:53–6. doi: 10.4103/0019-5154.174026. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Sriramarao P, Rao PV. Allergenic cross-reactivity between Parthenium and ragweed pollen allergens. Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 1993;100:79–85. doi: 10.1159/000236391. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Akhtar N, Satyam A, Anand V, Verma KK, Khatri R, Sharma A. Dysregulation of T(H) type cytokines in the patients of Parthenium induced contact dermatitis. Clin Chim Acta. 2010;411:2024–8. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2010.08.030. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
