DELAYED BLANCH PHENOMENON AS AN INDICATION OF ATOPY IN NEWBORN INFANTS

[摘要] Methacholine was injected intradermally into 100 infants 3-4 days of age. Sodium chloride and histamine solutions were used as control injections. The paradoxic delayed blanch reaction to methacholine was definitely present in 16 infants, questionably present in 21, and absent in 63. There was no correlation between a positive delayed blanch reaction and a family history of allergy. There was no correlation either between a positive blanch reaction to methacholine or a whealing reaction from injection of histamine and the occurrence of erythema toxicum neonatorum. The accuracy and reliability of this method for the detection of an atopic individual can only become apparent as the reactions of these infants are studied through childhood and adolescence.