Dear Editor:
W
e feel that the paper of Polimeno et al. (2010) is of scientific interest, yet we feel that the title is misleading and we disagree with some statements in the Discussion section. In particular, the authors report that a very high number of people are sensitized against one of the most important allergens of the nematode Anisakis simplex, but the development of an allergy does not mean that these people acquired the infection. It is known that some of the A. simplex allergens are resistant to high temperatures and they are not degraded in well-cooked fish. Consequently, we can reasonably assume that most of these persons ingested one or more times Anisakidae worms but we do not know whether the worms were live or dead. This is also supported by the limited number of clinical cases of anisakiasis in the area where the study was carried out. We disagree with the author's statement that the reaction to one allergen of A. simplex is an indicator of a true nematode infection and useful for the diagnosis of anisakiasis. In sum, we believe that the results presented by Polimeno et al. (2010) cannot give any data on the number of persons who acquired the infection.
