Urticaria and Hay-Fever Due to Trichophytin (Epidermophyton Interdigitale)

Recently one of us 1 together with Phyllis Kerr reported a case of urticarial hypersensitiveness to trichophytin, in which the passive transference by means of the blood serum (method of Prausnitz-Kustner) proved successful. To our knowledge this was the first case of its kind reported, and we called attention to the fact that the discovery of this type of hypersensitiveness made it possible that trichophytin products of pathogenic fungi might be the cause of some asthmas and hay-fevers, as well as of urticarias. In view of the widespread prevalence of ringworm infections, particularly those of the feet, it would seem to us to be reasonable to consider the possibility of an ever-present allergen in the investigation of patients with these disorders. Since our first report, Ramirez, 2 in further expansion of our experiments, has discovered and published the report of a case of asthma which could be traced to trichophytin.