Occupational asthma secondary to inhalation of garlic dust.

An atopic patient in whom the inhalation of occupationally encountered garlic dust precipitated asthma is reported. Studies revealed the presence of immediate skin-test reactivity to garlic extract, and specific IgE anti-garlic antibodies were detected in the patient's serum by the polystyrene tube solid phase radioimmunoassay (PTRIA) technique. Bronchial challenge with garlic dust also resulted in an immediate asthmatic response typical for an IgE-induced mechanism.