Incidence of serum precipitins against organic-dust antigens in different populations by counterimmunoelectrophoresis.

The incidence of serum antidust and antifungal precipitins was determined by counterimmunoelectrophoresis in 317 atopic and nonatopic subjects of three geographic areas (north central, southern, and western United States). The selected lyophilized crude antigens employed were from house dust, Micropolyspora faeni, Candida albicans, Alternaria tenuis, Aspergillus fumigatus, Puccinia coronata, Cantharellus cibarius, and Amborsia trifida. Antidust precipitins were detected with high frequency in atopic and nonatopic subjects of each geographic area (48 to 71 percent of different population subgroups). Precipitin reactions were generally intense and often multiple, in keeping with the marked heterogeneity of the crude dust antigen employed. Antidust precipitins were also present in serum fractions precipitated with ammonium sulfate and in IgG-rich fractions obtained by gel filtration (Sephadex G-200) and diethylaminoethyl-cellulose chromatography. Precipitins against crude somatic fungal and actinomycetic antigens were detected with considerably less frequency in all populations surveyed, considerably less frequency in all populations surveyed, and antiragweed precipitins were not detected. Our results suggest that prolonged environmental exposure to diverse, ubiquitous organic dusts results in a "normal" serum precipitating-antibody response. They also extend our previous finding of a high precipitin response against organic dusts in residents of the Gulf south area compared to other geographic areas.