Weißenborn Laura, Kespohl Sabine, Maryska Silke, Sander Ingrid, Bickhardt Jakob, Henle Thomas, Raulf Monika
Chair of Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden.
Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, and.
Allergol Select. 2025 Jul 22;9:66-74. doi: 10.5414/ALX02580E. eCollection 2025.
This occupational case report describes a 28-year-old woman, employed since November 2020 as a research assistant working with mealworms (), who developed symptoms of mild shortness of breath and severe redness and swelling of the eyes in early 2022, leading to the diagnosis of occupational allergic asthma due to respiratory sensitization to mealworm. Subsequent tests confirmed mono-sensitization to and additional cross-sensitization to flour beetle (). Further studies aimed to determine the antigenic and allergenic potency of different protein fractions and rearing material isolated from regarding protein pattern and immunological activity by -specific polyclonal rabbit IgG and human IgE. The highest antigen content of was measured in the rearing material, followed by mealworm flour and aqueous extraction. Allergenic proteins are particularly detected in mealworm flour and aqueous fraction at molecular weights of 24 and 11 kDa, which appear to be specific for primary airway sensitization. In addition, the airborne antigen levels in the workplace were monitored using electrostatic dust collectors to identify hotspots of exposure. The disposal of dry insect material was shown to be responsible for the unintentional release of potential allergens. Therefore, awareness of the potential risk of a type I allergy due to the release of airborne insect allergens in the workplace should be raised.
这份职业病例报告描述了一名28岁女性，自2020年11月起受雇担任研究助理，负责处理黄粉虫。2022年初，她出现了轻度呼吸急促以及眼睛严重红肿的症状，最终被诊断为因对黄粉虫呼吸道致敏而导致的职业性过敏性哮喘。后续检测证实其对黄粉虫单致敏，并对赤拟谷盗存在交叉致敏。进一步研究旨在通过黄粉虫特异性多克隆兔IgG和人IgE，确定从黄粉虫分离出的不同蛋白质组分和饲养材料在蛋白质模式和免疫活性方面的抗原性和致敏性。在饲养材料中测得黄粉虫的抗原含量最高，其次是黄粉虫粉和水提取物。在分子量为24 kDa和11 kDa的黄粉虫粉和水相组分中特别检测到了致敏蛋白，这些蛋白似乎是原发性气道致敏的特异性蛋白。此外，使用静电集尘器监测工作场所空气中黄粉虫抗原水平，以确定暴露热点。结果表明，干燥昆虫材料的处理是潜在过敏原无意释放的原因。因此，应提高对工作场所空气中昆虫过敏原释放导致I型过敏潜在风险的认识。
