Food allergy is an increasing worldwide problem. Food sensitization can occur by skin contact due to
professional exposure and lead to clinical allergy, but data are sparse. In the Portuguese population diet,
Octopus is usually fished and consumed. The major allergen (Oct v 1) in the muscle of the octopus Octopus
vulgaris is tropomyosin, a highly conserved muscle protein with cross-reactivity between molluscs (bivalves,
cephalopods, or gastropod) and also with arthropods (crustacea, insects and dust mites). The aim of this
study was to investigate the prevalence of allergic sensitization to Octopus vulgaris on fishermen that
captures it and establish its clinical relevance of it. It was applied a survey concerned to respiratory and
food allergy. Skin prick tests with aeroallergens extracts and prick -to- prick skin tests with octopus were
performed. The sample was 17 fishermen from a village that mainly capture of octopus, using pots and
traps. Like in general population, 29% of fishermen have dust mite sensitization, but 35% of them has
octopus sensitization, instead of the expected sensitization rate lower than 5%. Also, there was no
significant correlation with dust mites sensitization (spearman rank order correlation p˂0,05). Our results
show a higher prevalence rate, unrelated with dust mites sensitization, and probably due to professional
exposure. This is the first study with octopus’ fishermen in Portugal. Larger studies with a molecular
profile should be performed in order to establish the clinical relevance of this data and the healthcare
impact of it.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
