Monkey dander asthma.
We recently cared for two patients who experienced acute asthma with exposure to dander of the cotton top tamarin, a species of New World monkey. Both patients had serologic evidence for an IgE antibody to monkey dander as determined by RAST and a positive immediate skin test response to an extract prepared from monkey dander. Furthermore, by RAST we were able to determine that cotton top tamarin urine and newborn cotton top tamarin dander had antigens that reacted with IgE in the serum of the affected patients. Thus we report two patients with asthma to monkey dander that appears to be mediated by an IgE mechanism. We also found that serum from a subject exposed to another species of New World monkey, the capuchin, yielded a positive RAST to the cotton top tamarin, suggesting that allergenic cross-reactivity may exist between the two species.