EXAMPLES OF CROSS SENSITIZATION IN ALLERGIC ECZEMATOUS DERMATITIS

Abstract

THE SUBJECT of cross sensitization in allergic eczematous contact type dermatitis has been considered by many investigators. One of the first examples of a study on cross sensitization in allergic eczematous dermatitis was Bloch's investigations in 1911¹ on the nature of iodoform hypersensitivity. From this study he concluded that in his cases the hypersensitivity of the cutaneous cells was not directed against free iodine but against methyl and methane groups. Bloch's observations and conclusions have since then been extended. For it is known today that there are various forms of iodoform hypersensitivity: in some cases the hypersensitivity probably can be directed against the free iodine, which is split off; in others, against the whole iodoform (tri-iodomethane) molecule or against iodine-substituted methanes or in still other cases against any substituted or unsubstituted methane or methyl groups (Sulzberger²). Bloch's classic study showed that certain cases of multiple sensitizations which might