Safety of Chitosan Bandages in Shellfish Allergic Patients

In 2005, the Office of the Surgeon General mandated that every soldier carry a HemCon bandage. Made from chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from shrimp shells, this bandage effectively stops bleeding. There are no studies reporting the safety of this bandage in shellfish allergic patients. Patients...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMilitary medicine Vol. 176; no. 10; pp. 1153 - 1156
Main Authors Waibel, Kirk H., Haney, Brian, Moore, Merrideth, Whisman, Bonnie, Gomez, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Oxford University Press 01.10.2011
Subjects
Adult
Bandages
Chitosan - immunology
Crustaceans
Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
Female
Food allergies
Food Hypersensitivity - diagnosis
Food Hypersensitivity - immunology
Humans
Immunoglobulin E - immunology
Laboratories
Male
Middle Aged
Military Medicine
Military Personnel
Pilot Projects
Poisson Distribution
Proteins
Shellfish
Shellfish - adverse effects
Skin
Skin Tests
United States
United States
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Summary:In 2005, the Office of the Surgeon General mandated that every soldier carry a HemCon bandage. Made from chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from shrimp shells, this bandage effectively stops bleeding. There are no studies reporting the safety of this bandage in shellfish allergic patients. Patients who reported shellfish allergy were recruited. Initial assessment included a detailed history, IgE skin prick testing (SPT), and serum testing to shellfish allergens. Participants who demonstrated specific shellfish IgE underwent a bandage challenge. Nineteen participants were enrolled; 10 completed the study. Seven (70%) were male and the average age was 44.8 + 10 years. Nine (90%) reported a shrimp allergy history and five (50%) reported multiple shellfish allergies. All participants completing the study had positive SPT and serum IgE testing to at least one shellfish; eight (80%) had shrimp positive SPT and ten (100%) demonstrated shrimp-specific IgE. No participant had a positive SPT to chitosan powder or experienced an adverse reaction during bandage challenges. No protein bands were visualized during gel electrophoresis analysis of chitosan powder. All participants tolerated the HemCon bandage without reaction. This is the first study demonstrating the safety of this bandage in shellfish allergic subjects.
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ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.7205/MILMED-D-11-00150