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Immediate, violent reactions: shellfish IMMEDIATE, VIOLENT REACTIONS: SHELLFISH
Immediate, violent reactions are particularly common with shellfish, but are often inconsistent - a person will react severely on one occasion but not at all on another. One reason for this is that shellfish actually comprise two separate animal groups. Another is that the shellfish themselves vary, depending on what they have been eating. They tend to accumulate various chemical compounds, including toxins, from the creatures that they eat. These are passed on intact to the human consumer. The adverse reaction that follows may be an allergic one, or it may be a false food allergy (see p76) or simply a straightforward case of poisoning by toxins that the shellfish have accumulated. With increasing pollution of coastal waters by raw sewage, there is also the very real possibility of infection by bacteria or viruses, which may further confuse the picture.
To add to the complexities, shellfish are often treated with preservatives, known as benzoates, after they are caught. A few people are allergic to these widely used additives, and while they will certainly react to various other foods as well, the reaction to shellfish is likely to be more marked because of the prodigious quantities of benzoate used. The amount will vary tremendously from one batch of shellfish to another, and this may explain the variable reactions seen in a small proportion of those sensitive to shellfish.
Another possibility which should be considered, in puzzling cases of food allergy, is sensitivity to antibiotics. Because these are added to animal feeds, they can turn up in trace amounts in meat, eggs and milk. Someone who is extremely sensitive to a particular antibiotic may react to the tiny amounts found in such foods.
Finally, there are some food-allergic individuals who only produce symptoms if they take strenuous exercise after eating the food. Exactly why this should occur is unknown, but changes in the state of the blood vessels that occur naturally during exercise must somehow trigger off adverse reactions in the mast cells. This type of reaction can lead to collapse (exercise-induced anaphylaxis) which can sometimes be fatal.
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