Our positive control is histamine dihydrochloride, which has a long history of scientific data documenting its efficacy; this is widely accepted as the European standard, dating back to the original Nordic guidelines.1
Middleton’s Allergy: Principles and Practice recommends 10 mg/mL as the “preferred positive control for prick-puncture tests.” 3 This is the exact concentration in our Histamine Positive Control.
Skin Prick Testing and the Use of Histamine References recommends “histamine 10 mg/mL as an international positive reference.”4
“Histamine Dihydrochloride at 10mg/mL (equivalent to 6 mg/mL Histamine base) has been shown to elicit fewer false negative and false positive reactions”5 using the same skin testing device than 1mg/mL histamine base.
| ITEM NO. | DESCRIPTION | UNIT |
| 7099ED | Histamine for Percutaneous (Scratch, Prick or Puncture) Administration Histamine Dihydrochloride (equivalent to 6 mg/mL Histamine base) | 5 mL |
Footnotes
1 Nordic Council on Medicines: Registration of Allergen Preparations. Nordic Guidelines, ed 1. Uppsala, NLN Publications, 1982, No 7, pp 16.
2 I.L. Berstein, et al. Practice parameters for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2008; 96:S1– S148.
3 N.F. Adkinson, B. B. (2014). Middleton’s Allergy: Principles and Practice. 8th ed., 1123.
4 H.J. Malling. Skin Prick Testing and the Use of Histamine References. Allergy, 39: 596-601, (1984).
5 R.B. Berkowitz, D.G. Tinkleman, D. Lurz, et al. Evaluation of the Multi-test Device for Immediate Hypersensitivity Skin Testing. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 90: 979-985 (1992)