Late asthmatic reactions to inhalation of fractions from extracts of Candida albicans and Asperguillus fumigatus.

To investigate the mechanism of late respiratory reactions after exposure to extracts of C.albicans and A.fumigatus, patients with asthma were studied with skin tests, inhalation tests and serologic tests including precipitin tests, using purified polysaccharide fraction (PS) and protein fraction (P). Thirty five inhalation tests in 30 patients separated reactors with late onset into two groups, 7 patients with precipitins, intermediate dermal and respiratory reactions, and 10 patients with delayed skin reaction and delayed dyspnea. Exposure to PS could elicit immediate and intermediate respiratory reactions but not delayed reactions, which had been observed after exposure to Prut or crude extract, suggesting that the delayed respiratory reactions observed were immunologically different from those caused by Arthustype allergy. Skin test with PS elicited immediate, intermediate, or both reactions, and those with P evoked immediate, intermediate, or delayed reactions or some combinations of these. The same relationship of purified fractions to patterns of skin reactions as well as respiratory reactions existed in guinea pigs immunized with C.albicans. Taking the results to animal experiments into consideration it would appear that some of the late responses after exposure to Prot or crude extract of C.albicans and A.fumigatus were due to allergic mechanism of the delayed type.