Five of 6 fecal extracts from small children with intestinal Ascaris lumbricoides
infection were
IgE-positive before
antiparasitic treatment with
mebendazole was given.
After treatment one patient still showed high fecal
IgE level, but the samples from the remaining children showed either undetectable
IgE values, or values just above the limit of detection. The serum
IgE concentrations, however, decreased more slowly than the fecal
IgE levels did. In the child with persistent high fecal
IgE level after
therapy, ova from Hymenolepis nana could still be found in feces, although the A. lumbricoides
infection had been successfully treated. Gel filtration studies showed that fecal
IgE from a patient with the
parasitic infection was degraded to fragments corresponding to a molecular weight of approximately 40,000 daltons, similar to that of fecal
IgE from a patient with gastrointestinal
allergy. The number of
IgE-positive fecal extracts in those patients before
antiparasitic treatment was given differed significantly from the number of positive fecal
IgE extracts from healthy nonallergic children (p less than 0.01), but not from children with different kinds of
allergy (p greater than 0.20). The fecal
IgA concentrations were not different before and after
antiparasitic therapy. The finding of
IgE in feces from individuals with intestinal
ascaris infection and nearly complete disappearance of
IgE in feces after successful therapy is further evidence of local production of
IgE in the gut mucosa.