History and Objectives: Due to allergic effect of saffron in humans and its well characterized side effects, the present study is designed to set up an ELISA method and assess its detection power among peoples presented with saffron allergic reaction referred to Gonabad Health Center in 1994.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was carried out to design the ELISA method and a clinical trial was conducted. The Prick skin reaction test was performed with saffron pollen extract on 43 patients with prior allergic reaction. Patients with positive skin reaction were considered as experimental group and those with negative response were taken as control group. ELISA test was done on all patients. OD of more that 0.3 was taken as positive response. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative informative value and overall efficacy were determined.
Results: From 43 patients under supervision, 23 showed allergic response and 20 did not display any such reaction. ELISA test showed that from 23 patients with positive Prick skin test, 18 patients had positive allergic reaction and 5 has negative reaction. Correlation between two tests was 78%, specificity of ELISA method was 100% and positive predictive value was 100%.
Conclusion: In light of detection level of ELISA method, it can be used to test the level of allergic reaction among individuals dealing with production and distribution of saffron.