Allergic chemical process sensitization

Lodi A, Mancini LL, Pozzi M, Chiarelli G, Crosti C (1993) Occupational airborne allergic contact dermatitis in parquet layers. Contact Dermatitis 29 281-282 Lovell CR, Rycroft RJG, Matood J (1984) Isolated Cardura Eio sensitivity in an epoxy resin chemical process. Contact Dermatitis 11 190-191... 

In the context of allergies, sensitization is the process by which a person becomes, over time, increasingly allergic to a substance (sensitizer) through repeated exposure to that substance. Allergies are inappropriate or exaggerated reactions of the immune system to substances that, in the majority of people, cause no symptoms. Symptoms of the allergic diseases may be caused by exposure of the skin, the respiratory tract, or of the stomach and intestines to a protein or a chemical substance. 

Allergic effects are harmful effects that some people develop in reaction to substances that do not cause the same reaction in most other people. Allergic reactions are not thought to occur during a person s first exposure to a substance. The first exposure causes the body to develop repelling response chemicals to that substance. A later (second, third, or more) exposure results in the allergic response. This process is called sensitization, and substances that cause people to become allergic to them are known as sensitizers. 

In addition to those mentioned above, other chemicals have been implicated in the induction of occupational asthma. Some of these are listed in Table 1.1 and more comprehensive details are available elsewhere (Chan-Yeung and Malo, 1993). It is important to emphasize, however, that the inclusion of a chemical in such lists does not necessarily imply that respiratory symptoms result in all instances from allergic sensitization. For many chemicals associations have been found between respiratory effects and the presence of homocytotropic (IgE or IgG4) antibodies. Such associations are not universal and there is some uncertainty about the nature of immune effector mechanisms, and indeed the requirement for immune processes per se, in some forms of chemical-induced asthma. The subject of this book is allergic sensitization... 

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