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Scientific news about the fishing sector, fish and their parasites
Parasite project, 2014-07-02
Food TIP, an innovative portal for people related to food sector (EN)
The Food Tech Innovation Portal, Food TIP, is a Wikipedia-like portal that aims to foster the implementation of new technologies in the food sector, supporting food companies’ innovations and development processes, and therefore contributing to the transfer of technology in this field.
The portal, that can be freely accessed and edited by registered users, contains variety of information across all food areas, including processing, product development and food safety, structured in four main categories: technologies, profiles, infrastructure and innovation guide. This way, Food TIP is a clear, well-structured and easy to understand database, useful not only for staying updated with food sector innovations but also for finding suitable partners for new developments and collaborative projects.
ediario.es, 2014-06-28
Anisakis: do we combat it? (ES)
Although it may sound exotic (and we do like exotism!), anisakis is no more than an unpleasant parasite that lodges in the stomach of some fishes. It is terrible for human health, so continue reading to know about the effects it causes and, what is more interesting, to avoid them.
El Correo.com, 2014-06-21
Seventy people affected by Anisakis in the Basque Country in the last two months (ES)
Seventy people have been diagnosed with anisakiasis in the last two months in the Basque Country, after consuming raw infected anchovies. About a third of them had to be hospitalized.
PARASITE project, 2014-06-20
PARASITE project contributes to improve the specificity for the diagnosis of Anisakis sensitization (EN)
Recently, PARASITE project partners have proved the usefulness of the ratio between two target antibodies as a way to improve the specificity for the diagnosis of Anisakis sensitization.
The PARASITE Project is aimed at assessing risk posed by fish parasites using integrated tools along the whole production value chain. Anisakids, the common noun for nematodes belonging to the family of Anisakidae, represent the main parasitological risk for humans derived from fish consumption. Particularly, the species Anisakis simplex is known to cause severe reactions if raw or undercooked contaminated seafood is consumed. Moreover, A. simplex can provoke allergy in sensitized people.
Despite being an increasing problem, the diagnosis of Anisakis sensitization is still based on the detection of specific immunoglobulin E antibodies to parasite whole antigen. Immunoglobulin E antibodies (IgE) are a class of proteins formed by the immune system of mammals in reaction to certain foreign substances, and have the capacity to recognize them. However, this method demonstrated high cross-reactivity to other nematodes and microorganisms, i.e. the detection of the specific antibody can be triggered by the presence of other parasites different from Anisakis. Therefore, this technique leads to low specificity of the diagnostic tests, thus increasing the chances for wrong diagnosis.
Within the PARASITE project, the Servicio Madrileño de Salud-SERMAS, leads the research destined tocharacterize the cellular and humoralimmune responses caused by anisakids, which in turn will improve the diagnosticaccuracy. In a recent study, several immune parameters were analyzed in 999 patients and, as a result, it was concluded that the ratio between specific IgE antibodies to Anisakis and specific IgE antibodies to Ascaris (a common human parasite) improved remarkably the specificity of the diagnosis. Consequently, this ratio, that can be easily obtained using the available systems, will be useful for the correct diagnosis of hypersensitivity to Anisakis simplex.
This work has been published in Acta Tropica.
Diario Vasco, 2014-06-19
The Basque Country Parliament requests a protocol on food risk communication (ES)
The Basque Country Government is urged to comply with the parliamentary mandate on food safety promulgated in October 2013.