Ginkgo-Tree Dermatitis

Abstract

I. Introduction IN THE fall of 1963 an epidemic of contact dermatitis among the students of a preparatory school for girls was traced to contact with the fallen fruit of a large female ginkgo tree. The rather sudden onset of the epidemic resulted from exposure of the students to the ginkgo tree because of construction which necessitated rerouting of the junior and senior students in their passage to and from their dormitories. The new route led directly under a large female ginkgo tree from which many of the fruit pods had fallen. The fallen fruit pods were trampled by the passing students and the pods were ruptured with expulsion of the juicy pulp. The total number of cases of contact dermatitis observed was 35. The majority of these occurred in a group of 41 junior and senior students whose daily route lay beneath the ginkgo tree. Only a few members