Lingonberry allergy

Abstract

During the past few years, cranberry and lingonberry products have been increasingly marketed as a natural solution to avoid recurrent urinary infections. We would like to describe a case of allergy to lingonberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea) in an atopic 25-year-old woman with a history of mite allergic rhinitis, but no food allergies or prior anaphylaxis. She entered a restaurant and then ingested meatballs, baked potatoes and lingonberry jam. During the meal, itching and wheals developed around her mouth. Symptoms resolved without treatment. She later tolerated either beef or potatoes. Skin prick testing by prick-prick method with fresh lingonberry evoqued a mean wheal diameter of 5 mm (Saline 0 mm; Histamine 7 mm) and mean flare diameter of 20 mm. Skin prick tests performed with the foodstuffs involved in the episode produced no reaction. On her responsibility, she subsequently took lingonberry jam several days later and immediately noticed intense itching on her mouth, tongue and throat and wheals around her mouth. An extract of lingonberry (protein concentration: 0.6 mgr/ml) was analyzed by PAGE. After informed consent serum was obtained. IgE-ELISA was positive and western-blot revealed IgE in the patient's serum that bound to 53, 35 and 27 kD bands. To the best of our knowledge, we believe this to be the first case of allergy to lingonberry and indicate that this fruit may be allergenic when ingested. Further studies would be needed to characterize the allergenic components in this fruit.