Log on / register
BioMed Central home | Journals A-Z | Feedback | Support | My details
Open AccessCase Report

Anaphylaxis to husband's seminal plasma and treatment by local desensitization

Jaechun Lee1 email, Sohyung Kim1 email, Miok Kim1 email, Young-Bae Chung2 email, Jung-Sik Huh3 email, Chul Min Park4 email, Keun Hwa Lee5 email and Jeong Hong Kim6 email

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

Department of OB & GYN, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea

author email corresponding author email

Clinical and Molecular Allergy 2008, 6:13doi:10.1186/1476-7961-6-13

Published: 5 December 2008

Abstract

Hypersensitivity to human seminal fluid is rare but can be life threatening. We report a case of IgE-mediated anaphylaxis to seminal plasma that was diagnosed by skin prick tests and successfully treated by local desensitization. A 32-year-old woman suffering from angioedema and hypotension after exposure to semen was treated with epinephrine upon admission. Skin prick tests and immunoblotting for IgE binding components showed that she was sensitized to her husband's seminal plasma. Local desensitization, which persisted for six months, was achieved by intravaginal administration of serial dilutions of her husband's seminal plasma.


© 1999-2010 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. Part of Springer Science+Business Media.