부산대학교 도서관

The prevalence of cat allergy varies among different countries; in Europe, it has been estimated that about 26% of adults searching care for suspected inhalant allergy are sensitized to cats.1 The growing prevalence makes cat allergy a significant human health problem; furthermore, it can be serious and debilitating for many patients.1,2 The skin may represent a sensitization path to environmental allergens when there is a barrier defect at the epithelial level, as in atopic dermatitis.3 If skin barrier dysfunction is considered a risk factor for sensitization to food allergens, the possibility of developing sensitization to inhalant allergens through the skin is controversial. Notwithstanding sensitization to other allergens has been described to start by a skin injury, such as bee and vespid bites in venom allergy, and tick bites in alpha-Gal allergy and allergy to ticks (e.g., the pigeon tick). [Extracted from the article]