Factors Influencing Clinical Evaluation of Food Allergy

Studies of Hypersensitivity to Fish

“…It is generally agreed that allergic reactions to fish are usually immediate, and etiological diagnosis is therefore easier than in most food allergies (7,13,14,16,23,36). This was confirmed by the present study.…”

“…This was confirmed by the present study. This study also confirmed the general impression that there is good correlation between the presence of clinical hy persensitivity and the demonstration of positive skin reactions to fish (6,7,13,14,16,35). The use of undiluted commercial fish ex tracts intended for scratch testing resulted in a large proportion of false skin lest reactions, while extracts diluted to TP contents around 20 mg/100 ml resulted in skin test reactions with excellent correla tion with the existence of clinical fish allergy.…”

“…The high incidence of hyper sensitivity to fish as a cause of asthma and urticaria found in the present investigation may have been caused by several factors. Food allergies as a whole are more frequently demonstrated in children than in adults (16,36). In the present cases, the allergic symptoms to fish usually occurred in the early part of childhood (Fig.…”

“…Relatively few studies concerning hypersensitivity to fish have been published since 1921. Allergy to fish is only treated shortly in most textbooks concerning allergies (6,7,13,36) and in papers concerning food allergy as a whole (9,14,15,16,20,23,24,30). In 1937 de Besche (9) called attention to fish allergy as a common cause of asthma in Norway, and 'contended that an ex tended series of investigations into fish asthma and other forms of asthma among those inhabitants of Norway for whom fish is a staple item of food would probably .…”

Crustacea allergy

“…Shrimp-speeific IgE levels were elevated in all subjects, remained relatively constant during the 24 months of follow-up, and were not affected by the shrimp challenge. Since most (8/11) subjects carefully excluded shrimp from their diets for many years prior to study, the persistent elevation of shrimp-speciHc IgE levels and positive DBPCFC after shrimp avoidance suggests a persistent [17,37,38].…”