The European baseline series and recommended additions: 2019.

The European baseline series (EBS) of haptens (contact allergens) is used throughout Europe as an essential patch test screen to diagnose allergic contact dermatitis as an underlying contributory factor to, or cause of, eczema/dermatitis or other inflammatory dermatoses.

Exposure to environmental haptens is continuously changing, and the EBS needs to be adapted to reflect these varying hazards that become a risk to the population following exposure, in order to ensure that the haptens tested remain relevant and new frequent haptens are detected. The EBS was last revised in 2015. Updates had been undertaken by the European Environmental Contact Dermatitis Research Group on behalf of the ESCD. Criteria for inclusion of haptens within the baseline series have been published….