Basophil Activation Test in the Diagnosis of <i>Anisakis</i> Allergy: An Observational Study from an Area of High Seafood Consumption in Italy
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
Affiliations
Ignazio Brusca
U.O.C of Clinical Pathology Buccheri La Ferla Hospital FBF, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Maria Barrale
U.O.C of Clinical Pathology Buccheri La Ferla Hospital FBF, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Maurizio Zarcone
U.O.C. of Clinical Epidemiology with Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico di Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Santo Fruscione
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Rosa Onida
U.O.C of Clinical Pathology Buccheri La Ferla Hospital FBF, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Daniele Domenico De Bella
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Davide Alba
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Miriam Belluzzo
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Carina Gabriela Uasuf
Allergy Disease Center, Institute of Translational Pharmacology (IFT), National Research Council (CNR), 90146 Palermo, Italy
Gaetano Cammilleri
Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sicily, 90129 Palermo, Italy
Antonella Costa
Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sicily, 90129 Palermo, Italy
Vincenzo Ferrantelli
Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sicily, 90129 Palermo, Italy
Alessandra Savatteri
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Emanuele Cannizzaro
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Giuseppe Calamusa
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Guido Lacca
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Carmelo Massimo Maida
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Salvatore Pipitone
U.O.C. of Clinical Epidemiology with Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico di Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Alida D’Atria
U.O.C. of Clinical Epidemiology with Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico di Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Marialetizia Palomba
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Claudio Costantino
PROMISE Department, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Simonetta Mattiucci
Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Section of Parasitology, Sapienza-University of Rome, University Hospital “Policlinico Umberto I”, 00185 Rome, Italy
Walter Mazzucco
U.O.C. of Clinical Epidemiology with Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico di Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
The rising popularity of undercooked or raw seafood containing larvae of the Anisakis parasite has led to issues of public health concern due to allergic manifestations. We conducted an observational study on the use of an innovative Anisakis 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 Anisakis 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 Anisakis, while 27 with Chronic Urticaria (CU). We found a seven-fold excess risk for Anisakis (p4) positivity in the Anisakis allergic outpatients, as compared to the CU ones. BAT showed the best diagnostic accuracy (92.45%) and specificity (100%), while specific IgE to Ascaris (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.
