My son is off the charts allergic to shellfish. He is bringing tiny crabs home to play with then returning the Bay afterwards. He is a teen. the crabs so far are too small to pinch his skin with claws- and he washes his hands before eating dinner/ or snacks. Anyone know if there is any danger if one were to pinch and cut thru skin? I'm guessing it's OK and unlikely to cause any reaction.
live shellfish contact question
Posted on: Thu, 04/15/2004 - 8:43am
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I'm really not sure about the answer to your question. My son is also allergic to shellfish and loves to be around the marshes and beaches near where we live. (I've got some great up close pictures of a fiddler crab he found recently). He has had his eyes swell slightly but I thought it was from all the pollen (we were at a DNR nature trail at the time). I never thought about him being allergic to the live crabs! (Pretty dumb now that I think about it!) Sorry that I can't be of any help.
Valerie
Thanks for your thoughts on this. It would be challenging to figure -- reactions from what- pollen, mold, etc could be posible. My son hasn't had problem with the crabs yet and is having so much free fun wiht them and since we can't have the pets he wants... I'll just let him enjoy this. He is more likely to have asthma trigger from pollens today anyway- is 142 in our area today. We have medication if ever needed.
I think this might depend on if your son has ever shown contact allergies. If he is picking them up, probably not sensitive to skin contact. I don't think it would be much different if bitten than if just handling. I'm not sure I would worry about this too much.
Definitely needs to clean up and not eat snacks with "crab hands" just in case he ingest something. With a teen I would be most worried about this as they seem to be eating constantly.
How does he do if he touched crab meat directly rather than the shell of a live crab? My dad had a shellfish allergy, and he could not touch crab meat or the outside of a lobster, etc., without skin reaction. This might be a concern if he is picking up a dead one with broken shell off the beach or marsh.
My DD is allergic to shellfish. On the skin test her welp wasn't huge. Her only reaction before diagnosis was hives/vomiting after eating french fries off the same plate with fried shrimp (the fries were on the opposite side of the plate and never touched the shrimp as far as we could tell). This past summer we visited the aquarium in Denver. Lauren put her hand into the water to touch the starfish and pet the sting rays. Within 10-15 minutes the whole right side of her body was covered in hives and she was screaming bloody murder. Needless to say we WON'T be making any trips to the beach!
Rebekah
Wow, sorry to hear she reacted to contact of shellfish.
My DS has to other foods- PA or Cashews and to smell of eggs frying. Maybe due to pollens one time long ago- but that could have been contact to food not sure- he held hot dog and bun but didn't eat it.
I guess I'll check with his doctor. Currently he is not to be in a house if someone is pan frying- shellfish, egg, sesame seeds. No nuts either
But he can be in home if already cook crabs are being baked, or eggy dish being baked. We always ask about want else has ben cooked in same oil etc.
Valerie thanks for your input too.
I am going to try to get son not to handle any shellfish- but don't know how he'll take this- as he's been handling them without reaction so far- maybe he can incourage him to ask his allergist.
Jan