Snail allergy is rare, but it can lead to severe allergic reactions. Life-threatening reactions including anaphylactic shock have been often reported after snail consumption. Cerithidea obtusa is a commonly consumed sea snail in Malaysia and other Asian countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of immediate hypersensitivity reactions to this species of snail by skin prick test (SPT). Snail proteins were extracted from the snail flesh. A total of 131 patients with atopic diseases were skin prick tested with the snail extract. Out of 131 subjects, 10 (8%) were sensitized to C. obtusa extract. Most of these subjects are allergic rhinitis (70%), allergic conjunctivitis (60%), asthma (20%) and food allergic (20%) patients. As a conclusion, this study showed that the immediate hypersensitivity to marine snail, C. obtusa exists among local atopic patients at a low frequency of 8%. It seems like a patient with C. obtusa sensitization is also probably to be sensitized .....

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This study aimed to produce allergen extracts, to identify the protein profiles, frequency of allergy, major and minor allergens, and subsequently to determine the effect of heat treatments on allergenicity of two species of local edible snails, Cerithidea obtusa (C. obtusa) and Pomacea canaliculata (P. canaliculata). C. obtusa samples were obtained from Perak, Melaka and Selangor while P. canaliculata samples were obtained from Kelantan, Melaka and Penang. Proteins from raw and heat-treated snails (boiled, roasted and fried) were extracted and resolved by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A total of 131 patients with atopic diseases in Kuala Lumpur Hospital were skin prick tested (SPT) with raw snail extracts. Immunoblotting of raw and heated extracts was performed using sera from patients with snail allergy. Through SDS-PAGE, raw extract of C. obtusa was found to contain 32 protein bands, between 11 to 250 kDa while P. canaliculata had only 31 prot.....

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