Diagnosis of Allergy to Stinging Insects by Skin Testing with Hymenoptera Venoms

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Abstract
Skin testing was done on 30 patients with a history of anaphylactic reactions after a Hymenoptera sting and on 30 control subjects. The patients all had positive basophil-histamine release to 1 or more venoms on challenge with the specific venoms used for skin testing (honey bee, yellow jacket, white-faced hornet, yellow hornet and Polistes). At 0.1 .mu.g of venom/ml and at 1.0 .mu.g of venom/ml, 75% and 100%, respectively, of the sensitive patients had a positive skin test. There was a significant (P < 0.001) correlation between skin test and histamine release results. Of the 150 skin tests in control patients, only 1 was positive. Venom skin tests provide a simple, readily available technique to accurately diagnose allergy to stinging insects.

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