Mold sensitivity in the allergic respiratory diseases.

A study to determine the role of mold allergens in the allergic respiratory diseases was made by reviewing the skin sensitivity reactions to molds of 257 consecutive cases of asthma and/or rhinitis in southwestern British Columbia. Failure to adequately seek out and to treat even minor mold allergy was noted to be a frequent cause of therapeutic failure or of only limited success. Apparently bearing a consistent relation to age and being most prevalent in the mature adult, allergy to fungi appeared to develop slowly and insidiously. The incidence of mold sensitivity was 78.5% and exceeded that of house dust sensitivity by 3.1%. Evidence of clinical sensitivity was present in excess of 52.4% of mold-sensitive patients. Asthmatic patients showed a greater incidence of sensitivity to molds and to multiplicity of species than did patients with rhinitis only. The hypothesized evolution of rhinitis to asthma appeared to be paralleled by the acquisition of sensitivity to increasing numbers of species of fungi. This suggests that the development of sensitivity to multiple mold species may be an etiologic factor in the production of the asthmatic state.