Comparison between skin-sensitizing antibody titers and leukocyte sensitivity measurements as an index of the severity of ragweed hay fever

The ability of two techwiques, in vitro measurements of leukoaytic sensitivity to ragweed antigen E and P-K titrations of skin-sensiti&ng a,ntibody (SSA), have been compared in regard to their ability to predict the clinical severdy of ragweed hay fever in 24 allergic patients. The former proved to be more accurate and the correlaticm with the degree of patient symptomatology was highly significant. The level of SSA was observed to irnorease following erkronmental exposure to ragweed pa&n. A similar effect was noted in dtro, in that the ledcocytes of some patients which had lost the a,bili,ty to release a high percentage of their total histamine were observed to undergo a partial or complete recovery of this ability subsequent to the ragweed seaSon.