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. 2025 Winter;25(4):232-240.
doi: 10.31486/toj.25.0049.

Examination of Aeroallergen Sensitization Patterns in Southeastern Louisiana

Margaret Huntwork  1 , Andrew McKernan  1 , Estelle Levetin  2 , Derek Werthmann  3 , Felicia Rabito  3 , William Edward Davis  4   5 , John C Carlson  4
Affiliations

Examination of Aeroallergen Sensitization Patterns in Southeastern Louisiana

Margaret Huntwork et al. Ochsner J. 2025 Winter.

Abstract

Background: Episodic assessment of sensitization patterns within a geographic area helps to monitor the role that specific aeroallergens may play in triggering allergic disease. An assessment of sensitization patterns in New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina identified patterns of sensitization that were different from pre-Katrina studies. Whether the patterns had changed since the post-Katrina assessment was unknown. We therefore sought to evaluate the current sensitization patterns in the greater New Orleans area.

Methods: Seven hundred seventy-six unique patients with at least 1 sensitization identified on a standard 58-allergen skin test panel that includes 24 fungal extracts were evaluated for prevalence, unique sensitization within an allergen group, and patterns of sensitization across patients.

Results: Expected results included a high prevalence of sensitization to house dust mites, grass pollen, and spores of Alternaria and Aspergillus. Surprising results included a high prevalence of Acremonium sensitization and very low sensitization to other fungi. Sensitization patterns for patients did not cluster within phylogenetic patterns for most of the pollen and fungal extracts.

Conclusion: Ongoing refinement of extracts used in skin prick testing will help to monitor changing patterns of sensitization. This monitoring is especially important as climate change, changes in plant cultivation, and urbanization alter ecosystems.

Keywords: Acremonium; allergens; antigens–fungal; antigens–plant; asthma; environmental exposure; fungi; hypersensitivity; immunoglobulin E; plant weeds; pollen; rhinitis–allergic; trees.

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Conflict of interest statement

Preliminary data from this project were presented as an oral abstract at the annual meeting of the American Association of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Phoenix, Arizona, by Dr Andrew McKernan on February 27, 2022. Dr Carlson and Dr Huntwork receive salary support from the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Institutional Development Award (IDeA) States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN), grant number 2 UG1 OD024959-03. The other authors have no financial or proprietary interest in the subject matter of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Hierarchical cluster analysis of fungal allergen sensitization did not result in phylogenetically similar clusters.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Hierarchical cluster analysis of allergen sensitization other than fungi did not result in phylogenetically similar clusters for most of the aeroallergens tested. DF, Dermatophagoides farinae; DP, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus
Appendix Figure.
Appendix Figure.
Dendrogram made from a hierarchical cluster analysis of allergen sensitization using furthest neighbor clustering method. HDM, house dust mite.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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