Word: shellfish
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...Shellfish are also highly susceptible to bacterial and viral contamination, since they live close to the shore, where pollution tends to be worst. Cooking generally destroys the microbes that infect shellfish, but eating raw clams, ^ oysters and other shellfish is linked to nearly 1,000 cases of hepatitis each year...
...home or away, threats lurk in the form of foods that produce allergic reactions ranging from nausea to death. Shellfish and nuts, especially peanuts, are among the most dangerous to the vulnerable, with the potential of causing anaphylactic shock, which is marked by sudden bronchial spasms, vomiting, plummeting blood pressure and heart arrhythmias. "Peanut allergy is a life-threatening disease," says Dr. John Oppenheimer of Denver's National Jewish Center. "The greatest nightmare for someone with a peanut allergy is dropping dead on a restaurant floor or at a potluck supper or a friend's dinner party...
...While shellfish can be avoided, peanuts and peanut products, including some forms of peanut oil, are ubiquitous in foods, showing up unrecognized in such items as chili, stews and meat patties. Canadian businessman Paul Motz has learned to be wary -- and prepared. With seven severe reactions already in his medical dossier, he always carries a vial of the hormone epinephrine (for relaxing bronchial muscles and jump-starting the heart). He also has a supply of cards to hand out to waiters, each bearing the warning "I have an acute allergy to peanuts. Any contact could kill me immediately. Please double...
Wendy A. Weiger '83, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at Harvard Medical School, is studying the roles of hormones in the dominance hierarchies of New England's favorite shellfish, Homarus americanus...
Scientists do not know exactly why cholera periodically explodes into epidemics. The bacteria that cause it are part of the aquatic ecosystem, helping to break down dead shellfish. Cholera germs travel up the food chain by attaching themselves to plankton, which are eaten by fish and then by people. Studies by Rita Colwell, professor of microbiology at the University of Maryland, suggest that a plankton bloom, a rapid growth like the one reported off the coast of Peru earlier this year, may help trigger epidemics...