Bronchial asthma induced by rice.

A 43-year-old patient with rice-induced bronchial asthma was first admitted to our hospital for developing bronchial asthma induced by mite and house dust. At that time, there was no sign of allergic response to rice. Two years later, he was readmitted in an emergency state, with a severe attack of bronchial asthma. This time, however, the result of immunoglobulin E (IgE)-radioallergosorbent test (RAST) for rice was positive, with those to mite and house dust were unexpectedly negative. The causative factors and pathological mechanisms of various kinds of food allergies still remain unknown. The patient is now followed up in an ambulatory setting, and has been eating hypoallergenic rice with no bronchial asthma-induced attack. The present case, being an adult patient with severe grain-induced bronchial asthma previously allergic to mite and house dust, seems to be rather rare in the literature.