Basidiomycete mycelia and spore-allergen extracts: skin test reactivity in adults with symptoms of respiratory allergy.

One hundred fifty adults, with respiratory-allergic disease, and 14 control subjects, without symptoms of respiratory allergy, were skin prick tested with 16 common inhalant allergens, 12 extracts of mycelia from Basidiomycetes grown in vitro, and/or 10 to 15 basidiospore extracts. Eighty-three subjects (58%) had positive skin tests to two or more of the common inhalant allergens. Twenty-seven percent of the study subjects had positive skin reactions to one or more of the Basidiomycete mycelia extracts, and 32% demonstrated positive skin reactions to one or more basidiospore extracts. None of the 14 control subjects had positive skin reactivity to basidiospore extracts. Skin prick reactivity of study subjects to 15 different basidiospore extracts ranged from 5% for Cantharellus cibarius to 17% for Scleroderma sp. The prevalence of skin test reactivity to basidiospores did not differ significantly from the reactivity to commercial mold extracts of several common species of the Fungi Imperfecti (6% for Cladosporium herbarum or Penicillium notatum to 13% for Alternaria tenuis). These results demonstrate that a significant number of individuals reporting symptoms of respiratory allergy have skin test reactivity to basidiospores and suggest that these spores are important fungal aeroallergens in the New Orleans environment.