Indonesia Panel to Support Allergy Diagnosis

For some people, allergy is not a disease to worry about and therefore, it is often ignored. However, without us knowing it, allergy may disrupt our daily activities and put our lives in danger.

Allergy is a hypersensitive reaction of the body in immunologic reaction towards the materials which are commonly known as immunogenic (antigenic). A person with this kind of bodily reaction can be defined as atopic. In other words, allergy occurs when the body is overreacting against the environment or when it considers some materials as foreign and harmful, although those materials are actually harmless for them.

The causes of this hypersensitivity are called allergens. Ironically, many of these foreign materials perceived by our immune system can be easily found in our house. There are various tests to diagnose the condition of allergy. The diagnosis must be adjusted to the patient' s history. The tests generally include injecting allergens into our skin and observing the swelling formed, or conducting a blood test for allergen-specific IgE.

Signs and Symptoms of Allergy

Common signs and symptoms of allergy include:

- Respiratory issues such as blocked nose, cold, sneezing, and asthma symptoms (wheezing sound and shortness of breathe).

- Conjunctivitis, inflammation of the conjunctiva itchy, red, and watering eyes.

- Allergic contact dermatitis (eczema), red rash, itchiness.

For some people, severe allergic reaction towards environment, food, medicines, or bee stings, may threaten their lives especially when anaphylaxis occurs.

Allergy Diagnosis

Allergy diagnosis includes 4 complementary stages namely history examination, skin test, in vitro allergy test, and provocation test. The skin test to detect the IgE antibody has been widely conducted to help diagnosing allergy, but under several circumstances this skin test can be difficult to perform due to:

- Extensive skin problem. Skin test must be performed to healthy or normal skin.

- Severe dermatographism.

- Less cooperative patient.

- Antihistamine medications or other medicine uses that may disrupt the skin test result.

In other condition, in vivo skin test requires specific attention under different conditions, such as severe persistent or unstable asthma, pregnancy (there is a risk of anaphylaxis due to hypotension and uterine contraction), infant, and patients who consume beta-blockers.

In clinical treatment, in vitro method in detecting allergen-specific IgE through serum gives different benefits in comparison to in vivo method.

In vitro examination becomes an alternative due to its advantages such as:

- It can be performed to a patient who is currently in therapy that may affect the skin test result (antihistamine, antidepressant).

- Systemic reaction risk free.

- It can be can be conducted to a patient with extensive eczema.

Atopic IgE test (Indonesia Panel) with in vitro method is a semi-quantitative test to detect the possibility of allergen causing the symptoms of allergy on a patient. It can be an option in effort to identify the allergen under conditions in which skin test is impossible to perform.

Atopic IgE test (Indonesia Panel) involves 55 allergens matching the common allergens in Indonesia, consisting of several allergen groups such as those of tress/plants/grass, mites, animals, milk composition, mushrooms, food composition, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and meat.

Allergy can be prevented by maintaining healthy environment and avoiding the triggers or allergens. But, if the symptoms of allergy have appeared, be sure to immediately visit the doctor so anti-allergy medication can be given to relieve the symptoms.