A comparison of African and European serum levels of immunoglobulin E.

The mean level of serum IgE in Nigerian blood donors is significantly higher than those in expatriates living in Nigeria and in Swiss blood donors. The examination of serum IgE levels (by the radioactive single radial diffusion technique) in Nigerian patients with different diseases, in asthmatic children with matched controls in Ghana, and in subjects from malarious and non-malarious areas of Tanzania indicates that high IgE levels in Africans may not be due to malaria, vesical schistosomiasis, or onchocerciasis infections. A marked difference, however, was found between African subjects with positive and negative findings of stool parasites; they had higher and lower mean levels of serum IgE, respectively. It seems that, in an African population where the serum IgE levels are raised for other reasons, a rise in IgE in association with allergic conditions such as asthma may not be apparent.