brewmaster15
05-07-2024, 08:37 AM
Hi all,
I bring this subject up from time to time as its not really well known in the hobby. I figured with freeze dried Blackworms being harder to come by and more expensive that many hobbyists may fall back on Bloodworms. Which is fine but there are inherent risks with feeding them. Often people mention the disease risk to your fish,but really whats of more important consideration is the health risks to you as a person and your family. Blood worms are not really worms like blackworms are.. Bloodworms are the larval form of an insect...a mosquito like insect called a midge. They contain a well documented allergen that causes a bad histamine reaction in people. It can cause localized swelling, itchy hives, swollen eyes and breathing difficulties, and anaphylactic shock. The reactions are much like a bee sting to some people.
Some scientific abstracts and articles on Bloodworm allergies
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2877067/
Bloodworms, which are larvae of chironomids (also called freshwater midges), are often used as fish food or bait. Although chironomids can be found in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, allergies to them are mainly due to their use as fish food. Individuals at particular risk of chironomid-induced allergy include fish farmers, fishermen, pet shop owners, and others who keep fish or work with fish [1], as in our patient's case.
There have been a number of previously reported cases of hypersensitivity to chironomids [2-4]. With the increasing popularity of aquariums, allergy to chironomids may become less of a novelty and become something clinicians should be aware of when searching for the cause of a patient's atopic symptoms. Indeed, intradermal allergy testing of 718 asthmatic children with a Chironomidae extract in Japan showed 27.9% of results to be positive, suggesting that atopy to chironomids is one of the most common inhalant allergies in Japan [5].
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2475042/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2241583/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9777536/
If you currently feed Freeze Dried Blood worms or frozen ones, You should be very aware of allergic symptoms in both yourself and your family members.
Interestingly when I have polled members here, roughly 30 % of members are allergic. Whats interesting is most were not always, but as their use of bloodworms increased..they became sensitive. I am a classic case on this. Many year ago I fed Frozen Bloodworms...hikari brand. I had no issues with breaking off a chunck of frozen bloodworms and tossing them in tanks or hand feeding with them. Then I had a few weird reactions I didn't the know the cause at the time.. Hives on my arms while working on tanks, and once or twice, my eyes swelled shut when I touched them. I eventually found it to be Bloodworms.I had become allergic! I stopped feeding them and no issues until one day I went to my friend Henry's house, Henry was an avid bloodworm feeder... He had just fed the fish. I walked into his fishroom and my throat closed up., my eyes started running and swelling. I needed to use an inhaler and pop a few benedryl. It was pretty scary. Thats how allergic to bloodworms I am.
So... understand that even if you are not... you can easily become allergic to them.But what is worse and more scary is one of your family members could be and the connection would be impossible to make.
Nutritionally Bloodworms are okay, whether they carry parasites is up to debate, but whats not a question at all is the health risk they potentially pose to you and your family. Be very careful if you feed them.
Are any of you Allergic?
al
I bring this subject up from time to time as its not really well known in the hobby. I figured with freeze dried Blackworms being harder to come by and more expensive that many hobbyists may fall back on Bloodworms. Which is fine but there are inherent risks with feeding them. Often people mention the disease risk to your fish,but really whats of more important consideration is the health risks to you as a person and your family. Blood worms are not really worms like blackworms are.. Bloodworms are the larval form of an insect...a mosquito like insect called a midge. They contain a well documented allergen that causes a bad histamine reaction in people. It can cause localized swelling, itchy hives, swollen eyes and breathing difficulties, and anaphylactic shock. The reactions are much like a bee sting to some people.
Some scientific abstracts and articles on Bloodworm allergies
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2877067/
Bloodworms, which are larvae of chironomids (also called freshwater midges), are often used as fish food or bait. Although chironomids can be found in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, allergies to them are mainly due to their use as fish food. Individuals at particular risk of chironomid-induced allergy include fish farmers, fishermen, pet shop owners, and others who keep fish or work with fish [1], as in our patient's case.
There have been a number of previously reported cases of hypersensitivity to chironomids [2-4]. With the increasing popularity of aquariums, allergy to chironomids may become less of a novelty and become something clinicians should be aware of when searching for the cause of a patient's atopic symptoms. Indeed, intradermal allergy testing of 718 asthmatic children with a Chironomidae extract in Japan showed 27.9% of results to be positive, suggesting that atopy to chironomids is one of the most common inhalant allergies in Japan [5].
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2475042/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2241583/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9777536/
If you currently feed Freeze Dried Blood worms or frozen ones, You should be very aware of allergic symptoms in both yourself and your family members.
Interestingly when I have polled members here, roughly 30 % of members are allergic. Whats interesting is most were not always, but as their use of bloodworms increased..they became sensitive. I am a classic case on this. Many year ago I fed Frozen Bloodworms...hikari brand. I had no issues with breaking off a chunck of frozen bloodworms and tossing them in tanks or hand feeding with them. Then I had a few weird reactions I didn't the know the cause at the time.. Hives on my arms while working on tanks, and once or twice, my eyes swelled shut when I touched them. I eventually found it to be Bloodworms.I had become allergic! I stopped feeding them and no issues until one day I went to my friend Henry's house, Henry was an avid bloodworm feeder... He had just fed the fish. I walked into his fishroom and my throat closed up., my eyes started running and swelling. I needed to use an inhaler and pop a few benedryl. It was pretty scary. Thats how allergic to bloodworms I am.
So... understand that even if you are not... you can easily become allergic to them.But what is worse and more scary is one of your family members could be and the connection would be impossible to make.
Nutritionally Bloodworms are okay, whether they carry parasites is up to debate, but whats not a question at all is the health risk they potentially pose to you and your family. Be very careful if you feed them.
Are any of you Allergic?
al