According to statistics from the World Health Organization, about 40% of the world's population suffers from allergies right now. Many men, women, and especially children sneeze, cough, and experience other unpleasant symptoms when pollen or pet hair is in the air. People often develop food allergies, and this is especially scary because when allergens enter a person's digestive tract, they cause aggressive allergic reactions – a person can even suffocate and die from anaphylactic shock. Millions of people around the world have seafood allergies: they cannot eat fish, mussels, crabs, and so on. And they have probably wondered at least once: can intolerance to fish and crabs make itself known if you swim in the water in which they all live?
Millions of people around the world suffer from seafood allergies, but this does not necessarily mean that they cannot swim. Source: goodfon.ru
What causes allergies
Any allergy occurs because the human immune system begins to react too sharply to certain substances. The body's defense systems consider them harmful and start producing antibodies, which results in allergic reactions. These include sneezing, coughing, itchy skin, and so on, up to suffocation.
If allergy symptoms occur, a person needs to take antihistamines. Source: cinocap.ru
People with seafood allergies have an acute reaction to the protein tropomyosin, which is present in the tissues of all vertebrates and invertebrates. In shrimp, lobsters, crabs and other aquatic creatures, this protein acquires the properties of an allergen and poses a danger to people with a genetic predisposition to allergies.
According to the Food Allergy portal, most often people suffer from an allergy to shellfish – statistics say that 8.4 million people have such a diagnosis. 2.7 million people are allergic to fin fish. And this is only in the United States, if you take into account the whole world, the numbers will be two or even three times higher.
There are more people with fish allergies than we think. Source: freepik.com
Some people are allergic to only one type of sea creature, but there are also those who suffer from intolerance to several types at once. If a person with an allergy to seafood eats, let's say, fish, many destructive processes will start in his body. Due to an inadequate immune response to allergens, the allergy sufferer may develop a rash, sneeze and cough, start choking, and so on.
Anaphylactic shock is especially dangerous for allergy sufferers. This is the name of an allergic reaction that occurs when the immune system releases too many chemicals, such as histamine. This leads to a sharp decrease in blood pressure, suffocation, and sometimes even death.
Read also: Can a person have an allergy to meat?
Can you swim with allergies?
Based on everything written above, it becomes clear that allergy sufferers need to stay away from the sources of their problems. Even a small piece of fish can lead to serious consequences.
Recently, Internet users have asked the question: can people with seafood allergies swim in the sea? After all, there are fish, shellfish, and many other animals swimming in the water that you can't eat. What if their scales or natural secretions accidentally get into a person's body, he gets sick, and he drowns?
There may be allergens in the water, but their concentration is extremely low. Source: goodfon.ru
Indeed, there is a lot of “fish juice” in the seas open to navigation, as the authors of the scientific publication IFL Science put it. But there is no need to be afraid of this, because the concentration of allergens in the water is so small that it cannot cause any harm. This was said by allergist John James, and his words seem extremely logical.
Of course, theoretically, a person can accidentally touch a fish, and an allergic reaction will occur from physical contact. But it will definitely not be acute – at most, a slight redness will appear on the skin. In the entire history of observations, not a single person with an allergy to shellfish has died in sea water due to an allergic reaction.
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When swimming in the water, an allergy is unlikely to take a person by surprise. And the likelihood that a shark will attack a swimmer is very small. But drowning due to cramps is a risk for everyone, especially if the weather is hot outside. Also, in cold water, a person can suddenly lose memory. Be sure to read our article “How to survive if you unexpectedly find yourself in deep water”, because it can save your life.