Seafood allergy is a type of food allergy

Food allergy

A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein. They are distinct from other adverse responses to food, such as food intolerance, pharmacological reactions, and toxin-mediated reactions....

. It is a hypersensitivity to dietary

Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...

 substances from shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

, scaly fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 or crustaceans, causing an overreaction of the immune system, which may lead to severe physical symptoms for millions of people. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for and controlling asthma, food allergies, nasal allergies and other allergic diseases. AAFA's mission is also to educate the public about these diseases...

 estimates that the majority of pediatric and adult food allergy patients have a seafood allergy. It occurs mainly (but not exclusively) in adults.

Allergic reactions may result when the susceptible person is not consuming the allergenic substance, by exposure to vapours resulting from cooking of seafood or even preparation or handling.

Treatment

Seafood allergies are usually treated with an exclusion diet and vigilant avoidance of foods that may be contaminated with shellfish or fish ingredients and/or oils. The most severe seafood allergy reaction is called anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is defined as "a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death". It typically results in a number of symptoms including throat swelling, an itchy rash, and low blood pressure...

, which is an emergency, requiring immediate attention. It is treated with Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Epinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. In chemical terms, adrenaline is one of a group of monoamines called the catecholamines...

, which can be administered with an EpiPen

EpiPen

An epinephrine autoinjector is a medical device used to deliver a measured dose of epinephrine using autoinjector technology, most frequently for the treatment of acute allergic reactions to avoid or treat the onset of anaphylactic shock.Trade names for this device include EpiPen, Twinject,...

.

External links

• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
• The National Institutes of Health
• Shellfish Allergy at Food Allergy Initiative
  Food Allergy Initiative
  The Food Allergy Initiative is a 501 non-profit organization founded in 1998 with the mission to fund food allergy research that seeks a cure, to improve diagnosis and treatment, and to keep patients safe through advocacy and education. FAI is the largest private source of funding for food...
  
  
• Fish Allergy at Food Allergy Initiative
  Food Allergy Initiative
  The Food Allergy Initiative is a 501 non-profit organization founded in 1998 with the mission to fund food allergy research that seeks a cure, to improve diagnosis and treatment, and to keep patients safe through advocacy and education. FAI is the largest private source of funding for food...