Thimo Ruethers

James Cook University · Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine

Seafood refers to several distinct groups of edible aquatic animals including fish, crustacean, and mollusc. The two invertebrate groups of crustacean and mollusc are, for culinary reasons, often combined as shellfish but belong to two very different phyla. The evolutionary and taxonomic diversity of the various consumed seafood species poses a cha...

Background Commercial allergen extracts for allergy skin prick testing (SPT) are widely used for diagnosing fish allergy. However, there is currently no regulatory requirement for standardisation of protein and allergen content, potentially impacting the diagnostic reliability of SPTs. We therefore sought to analyse commercial fish extracts for the...

Background: Clinical reactions to bony fish species are common in patients with allergy to fish and are caused by parvalbumins of the β-lineage. Cartilaginous fish such as rays and sharks contain mainly α-parvalbumins and their allergenicity is not well understood. Objective: To investigate the allergenicity of cartilaginous fish and their α-par...

Background There is a paucity of data on the prevalence of food allergy (FA) in Vietnam. A cross‐sectional, population‐based study was conducted to evaluate the current prevalence of FA among 2‐ to 6‐year‐old children in two different regions in Vietnam. Method A structured, anonymous questionnaire, modified from published FA epidemiologic studies...

Background: Fish is a well-recognised cause of food allergy and anaphylaxis. The evolutionary and taxonomic diversity of the various consumed fish species poses a challenge in the identification and characterisation of the major fish allergens critical for reliable diagnostics. Globally, fish is a rising cause of food allergy complicated by a larg...

Background: Clinical cross-reactivity between bony fish, cartilaginous fish, frog, and chicken muscle has previously been demonstrated in fish-allergic patients. In indicative studies, two reports of anaphylaxis following the consumption of crocodile meat and IgE-cross-binding were linked to the major fish allergen parvalbumin (PV). This study inv...

The Pacific oyster is a commercially important mollusc and, in contrast to most other shellfish species, frequently consumed without prior heat treatment. Oysters are rich in many nutrients but can also cause food allergy. Knowledge of their allergens and cross-reactivity remains very limited. These limitations make an optimal diagnosis of oyster a...

Objectives The main objective was to gain more knowledge on exposure to bioaerosols in the processing area on board fishing trawlers. Methods Exposure sampling was carried out during the work shifts when processing fish in the processing area on board five deep-sea fishing trawlers (trawlers 1–5). Exposure samples were collected from 64 fishermen...

Despite recent technological advances, novel allergenic protein discovery is limited by their low abundance, often due to specific physical characteristics restricting their recovery during the extraction process from various allergen sources. In this study, eight different extraction buffers were compared for their ability to recover proteins from...

Background The IgE- and IgG4-binding patterns of the major fish allergen parvalbumins are not clearly understood. IgE antibody-binding to parvalbumin from Asian seabass, Lat c 1.01, is implicated in up to 90 % of allergic reactions, although the region of IgE or IgG4 epitopes are unknown. In the present study, we characterized the specific IgE- and...

Shellfish allergy affects 2% of the world’s population and persists for life in most patients. The diagnosis of shellfish allergy, in particular shrimp, is challenging due to the similarity of allergenic proteins from other invertebrates. Despite the clinical importance of immunological cross-reactivity among shellfish species and between allergeni...

Background Diagnostic tests for fish allergy are hampered by the large number of under‐investigated fish species. Four salmon allergens are well‐characterized and registered with the WHO/IUIS while no catfish allergens have been described so far. In 2008, freshwater‐cultured catfish production surpassed that of salmon, the globally most‐cultured ma...

Shellfish allergy affects up to 2% of the world population and persists for life in most patients. The diagnosis of a shellfish allergy, in particular shrimp, is however often challenging due to the similarity of allergenic proteins in other invertebrates. Despite the clinical importance, the complete allergen repertoire of allergy-causing shrimps...

BACKGROUND Fish is a major food and allergen source, requiring declaration on packaged food, often ensured by employing ELISAs. Over 1,000 different fish species are traded and consumed worldwide, increasingly provided by aquaculture. Up to 3% of the general population are at risk of sometimes fatal allergic reactions to fish, requiring strict avoi...

Background Fish collagen is widely used in medicine, cosmetics and the food industry. However, its clinical relevance as an allergen is not fully appreciated. This is likely due to collagen insolubility in neutral aqueous solution, leading to low abundance in commercially available in vitro and skin prick tests for fish allergy. Objective We inves...

The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) requires a declaration of the presence of 11 different allergens made through the label on a food product. Most food recalls in Australia are now due to undeclared allergens . This survey determined the extent of undeclared allergens in imported food products on the Asian retail market in Aus...

Understanding and predicting an individual's clinical cross-reactivity to related allergens is a key to better management, treatment and progression of novel therapeutics for food allergy. In food allergy, clinical cross-reactivity is observed in patients reacting to unexpected allergen sources containing the same allergenic protein or antibody bin...

The prevalence of fish allergy among fish-processing workers is higher than in the general population, possibly due to sensitization via inhalation and higher exposure. However, the response of the bronchial epithelium to fish allergens has never been explored. Parvalbumins (PVs) from bony fish are major sensitizers in fish allergy, while cartilagi...

Allergy to bony fish is common and probably increasing worldwide. The major heat stable pan-fish allergen, parvalbumin (PV), has been identified and characterized for numerous fish species. In contrast, there are very few reports of allergic reactions to cartilaginous fish despite widespread consumption. The molecular basis for this seemingly low c...