Airborne Seafood Allergens as a Cause of Occupational Allergy and Asthma
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ALLERGENS (RK BUSH, SECTION EDITOR)
Airborne Seafood Allergens as a Cause of Occupational Allergy and Asthma Andreas L. Lopata & Mohamed F. Jeebhay
Published online: 11 April 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Occupational allergy and asthma is a serious adverse health outcome affecting seafood-processing workers. Allergic reactions are directed to two major seafood groups: fish and shellfish, with the latter group comprising crustaceans and molluscs. Several allergenic proteins have been identified in these different groups, but few have been characterised on a molecular level. Parvalbumin appears to be the major fish allergen, while tropomyosin the major crustacean allergen. Other IgEbinding proteins have also been identified in molluscs and other seafood-associated agents (e.g. Anisakis sp), although their molecular nature has not been characterised. Aerosolised allergens can be identified and quantified using immunological and chemical approaches, detecting levels as low as 10 ng/m3. This contemporary review discusses interesting and recent findings in the area of occupational seafood allergy including high-risk occupations, environmental risk factors for airborne exposures, major and minor allergens implicated and innovative approaches in diagnosing and managing occupational allergy and asthma associated with seafood processing. Keywords Occupational . Occupational allergy . Asthma . Allergens . Seafood . Airborne seafood allergens . IgE antibody
A. L. Lopata (*) School of Pharmacy and Molecular Science, Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Molecular Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia e-mail: [email protected] M. F. Jeebhay Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) over 45 million people are directly involved in fishery and aquaculture production, producing 142 million tonnes of seafood worldwide (Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2010). The increase in harvesting and processing activities in the last 3 decades has been associated with exposure to seafood allergens in various forms that can cause allergic disease and asthma. Occupational sensitisation to fish was first reported in 1937 by De Besche in a fisherman who developed allergic symptoms when handling codfish [1]. Since then, various other seafood groups have been reported to cause occupational allergy and asthma (Table 1) [2, 3]. Most of the current studies focus on a variety of processed crustacean species and bony fish, while other groups and associated agents are less well characterised. This review provides an overview of current knowledge in the area of occupational sensitisation to seafood and discusses novel approaches in assessing and quantifying exposure to airborne seafood allergens.
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