Basophil Activation Test in the Diagnosis of <i>Anisakis</i> Allergy: An Observational Study from an Area of High Seafood Consumption in Italy

The rising popularity of undercooked or raw seafood containing larvae of the <i>Anisakis</i> parasite has led to issues of public health concern due to allergic manifestations. We conducted an observational study on the use of an innovative <i>Anisakis</i> allergy diagnostic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ignazio Brusca, Maria Barrale, Maurizio Zarcone, Santo Fruscione, Rosa Onida, Daniele Domenico De Bella, Davide Alba, Miriam Belluzzo, Carina Gabriela Uasuf, Gaetano Cammilleri, Antonella Costa, Vincenzo Ferrantelli, Alessandra Savatteri, Emanuele Cannizzaro, Giuseppe Calamusa, Guido Lacca, Carmelo Massimo Maida, Salvatore Pipitone, Alida D’Atria, Marialetizia Palomba, Claudio Costantino, Simonetta Mattiucci, Walter Mazzucco
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-05-01
Series:Pathogens
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/6/777
Description
Summary:The rising popularity of undercooked or raw seafood containing larvae of the <i>Anisakis</i> parasite has led to issues of public health concern due to allergic manifestations. We conducted an observational study on the use of an innovative <i>Anisakis</i> allergy diagnostic algorithm in a convenience sample of 53 allergic outpatients recruited in Western Sicily, between April 2021 and March 2022. We included individuals with an anamnesis suggestive of IgE sensitization to <i>Anisakis</i> reporting clinical manifestation in the last month due to allergic reactions after eating fresh fish, or in subjects at high exposure risk with sea products while abstaining from fish ingestion, excluding those with documented fish sensitization. Outpatients were tested via Skin Prick Test, IgE-specific dosage and Basophil Activation Test (BAT). Twenty-six outpatients were diagnosed with <i>Anisakis</i>, while 27 with Chronic Urticaria (CU). We found a seven-fold excess risk for <i>Anisakis</i> (p4) positivity in the <i>Anisakis</i> allergic outpatients, as compared to the CU ones. BAT showed the best diagnostic accuracy (92.45%) and specificity (100%), while specific IgE to <i>Ascaris</i> (p1) documented the best sensitivity (92.31%) but a very low specificity (37.04%). In conclusion, our findings may represent a potentially useful contribution to the future development of updated clinical guidelines.
ISSN:2076-0817