1 Medical Center, Hospital of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05401
The case report, "Grasshopper Allergy,"1 was of interest. However, it suggested several misleading conclusions
1. That "testing proved a definite sensitivity to grasshopper extract."1 It should be pointed out that positive immediate skin tests may perhaps present some evidence for the existence of IgE antibodies in the skinonly. Testing did not prove a cause and effect relationship between the presence of such antibodies and the patient's symptoms of hives and angioedema.2 The hives and angioedema may have been mediated by other innumerable, inhalant antigens commonly found on football fields, or by mechanisms other than antigen-IgE hypersensitivity.3