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Allergen Tolerance in the Genitourinary Tract

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Abstract

In the previous chapters, we considered mechanisms of allergen tolerance maintenance and breakdown in almost all target organs in which allergic inflammation develops. Now we are focusing on allergen tolerance in the genitourinary tract in females and males. Uncommonly for these target organs, e.g., the vagina, it serves as the entrance for an unusual group of allergens: airborne, including HDM, bits of food proteins, latex, sperm, and Candida albicans. In uncircumcised men, the prepuce of the penis accumulates allergenic pieces of stuff such as small amounts of semen, latex particles, feces of HDM, Candida albicans, topical medications, soaps, detergents, and textile dyes. On the other hand, the recurrence of allergic inflammation in remote places, for example, in the unified airway or skin, reflects the similar process associated with “neurogenic inflammation” in the vagina or penis. However, allergic diseases in the genitourinary tract are rare. There are allergic reactions to seminal fluid from local manifestations to anaphylaxis, chronic vulvovaginitis, painful coitus having an allergic origin, etc.

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  1. Clinical Immunology and Allergy Department, Siberian State Medical University, Tomsk, Russia

    Vladimir V. Klimov

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Klimov, V.V. (2022). Allergen Tolerance in the Genitourinary Tract. In: Textbook of Allergen Tolerance . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04309-3_9

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