Characterisation pollen allergens in Zimbabwe of grass.

Abstract

IgE mediated hypersensitivity affects more than 25% of the industrialized countries. The first wave was that of inhalant allergies and this has been recorded as a series of ISAAC studies. The second wave is emerging and it is affecting continents such as Europe, Asia and Africa. The environmental proteins that trigger allergic responses differ with the climate, environment and seasons during which they occur. Pollen allergy causes type 1 hypersensitivity. The common clinical manifestations include asthma, conjunctivitis, allergic skin inflammation, ocular allergy anaphylaxis and allergic rhinitis. Pollen grains only represent a small fraction of the total amount of the viable biological particles present in the air, but pollen are the most important aeroallergens in the outdoor environment. The prevalence of pollen allergy has been documented globally with limited evidence from Africa and Zimbabwe. Some of the reasons for non-documentation of allergy in Africa are the limited number of allergy specialists and the limited number of allergy centers. This study was conducted to access the burden of pollen allergy in Zimbabwe and to characterize common grass pollen allergen extracts. A retrospective study was carried out on 2735 patients. Data analysis was carried out using a software known as SPSS. General sensitization trends were deduced. Sensitization was seen to increase between the ages 9-39. Grass pollen allergens were seen to be the third commonest inhalant allergen source after house dust mites and the frequently manifested clinical condition was asthma. The laboratory detection of IgE was done on 55 serum samples using the Line blot assay. Ten pollen proteins were extracted using the alkaline lysis extraction method. Bermuda grass proteins were separated by SDS PAGE. Low molecular weight (5-30kDa) proteins were separated.