Background: There are few references of allergic reaction to beans in childhood. We report the case of a seven years old boy who suffered from angioedema associated to inhalation of vapours from cooked white bean.
Methods: skin prick tests (SPT) were performed by prick-by-prick with cooked white bean and legumes. It was also determined total IgE and specific IgE antibodies to bean and legumes with the use of the CAP enzymo-immunoassay. Subsequently, a oral challenge test was carried out with white bean.
Results: The prick-by-prick with white bean was positive in our case, and negative in ten controls patients. Specific IgE in patient serum, assayed by CAP was positive for white bean and green bean. The patient developed angioedema after ingestion cooked white bean.
Conclusion: we demonstrated a type I hypersensitivity to white bean in a seven years old child by SPT, specific IgE antibodies and challenge test.