Diagnostic utility of components in allergy to Anisakis simplex

Background: in our region,anisakis allergy is responsible for 8% of acute urticarial reactions,25% of which progress to anaphylactic shock. the poor specificity of skin tests and in vitro specific immunoglobulin (ig) e means that anisakis allergy is frequently overdiagnosed. objective: we studied the diagnostic value of 2 anisakis allergens: rani s 1 and rani s 3. methods: skin tests,the basophil activation test (bat),and specific ige determination were performed with rani s 1 and 3 in 25 patients allergic to anisakis,17 atopic controls,and 10 controls with acute urticaria and positive skin test and sige results for anisakis,but no allergy to anisakis. results: for rani s1,skin tests had a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and specific ige had a sensitivity and specificity of 100% in the atopic control group and 90% in the urticaria control group. bat had a sensitivity of 96.8% and a specificity of 100% in the atopic control group and 66.7% in the urticaria control group. for rani s 3,only 1 patient had positive specific ige results to rani s 3. all other techniques gave negative results in patients and controls conclusions: rani s 1 is the major allergen of anisakis and the target allergen when diagnosing allergy to anisakis. rani s 3 is not relevant when attempting to explain false-positive results. © 2012 esmon publicidad.