ANTIGENIC SPECIFICITY IN A HYPERSENSITIVITY PNEUMONITIS

Pigeon breeders’ disease, a hypersensitivity pneumonitis, is associated with the presence of precipitating antibody against pigeon antigens in the sera of affected breeders. In the present study, sera from 12 clinically ill pigeon breeders were tested against pigeon serum and extract of pigeon droppings in order to find out which of the two antigenic sources gave more reliable indication of the disease. All 12 sera showed strong precipitin reactions against the extract of droppings; only 8 reacted strongly against the pigeon serum. Since sera from many presumably healthy breeders also showed weak precipitin response to pigeon serum, the immunodiffusion tests using pigeon dropping extract seem to be more indicative of the pigeon breeders’ disease. © 1968 S. Karger AG, Basel.