Anisakis allergy: unjustified social alarm versus healthy diet; commentary to the "Letter to the Editor" of Drs Daschner, Levsen, Cipriani, and del Hoyo, referencing to "World-wide prevalence of Anisakis larvae in fish and its relationship to human allergic anisakiasis: a systematic review".
Amene Raouf RahmatiElham MoghaddasBehzad KianiAsma AfshariMichelle WilliamsShokoofeh ShamsiPublished in: Parasitology research (2021)
Anisakiasis is an underrecognized condition globally, and accurate diagnosis remains problematic even in countries where the condition is well known. Our "systematic review" was conducted according to Prisma guidelines. The stated basis of our study was "syndromic surveillance." Both methods are recognized in published literature as valid to identify or predict disease and to make accessible large amounts of evidence from published literature. Our study identified Anisakis allergy "hot spots" and other geographical areas where fish are highly infected with Anisakis without commensurate studies of human allergy. Results of our study will open up new lines of enquiry. Norway, used as an example to discredit the scientific integrity of our article, has a cuisine thriving with raw fish dishes and many sushi restaurants. The peer reviewed data sets, confirmed A. simplex sensitization among the Norwegian population, although this has been overlooked by the authors of the "Letter to the Editor." The identification of hot spots in our study may be influential in many ways not the least in raising diagnostic suspicion to expedite accurate diagnosis.