J Asthma Allergy Clin Immunol.  2003 Dec;23(4):833-836.

A case of hypersensitivity associated with oral aloe agent

• Lee EG
• Kwon SH
• Kim SH
• Myung SJ
• Choi JW
• Kim YJ
• Ahn Y

Abstract

Aloe has been widely used as folk medicine for centuries, especially for skin injury and burns. The aloes consisted of various substances including highly sensitizing agent, anthraquinone and there are few reports of hypersensitivity to aloe in the medical literatures. We report herein a case of hypersensitivity associated with oral aloe agent. A 36-year-old woman was referred for recurrent pruritic hives on various parts of her body 3 days ago. She had been admitted with acute urticaria and hepatitis in another hospital 20 days previously and discharged 1 week ago. On detailed medication history, she had been consuming oral aloe agent since 1 month ago and developed pruritic hives and athralgia following ingestion of oral aloe agent. Abnormalities of liver function were also shown. The patient underwent allergic skin test and showed positive response to aloe.

Keyword

aloe; hypersensitivity; skin test; urticaria

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aloe*
Burns
Eating
Female
Hepatitis
Humans
Hypersensitivity*
Liver
Medicine, Traditional
Skin
Skin Tests
Urticaria