Catalyst for Iodine Allergy?

I have a job handling raw meats and seafood. About six years ago, I suddenly started having breathing problems on the job. I tried to determine what might be causing it, and I noticed it happened within a few minutes of my handling raw mussels. I now don't touch mussels without a glove. My doctor advised me to avoid eating shellfish, which I have done since then. However, since that time, I had to have a CAT scan with the iodine dye--and it didn't bother me one bit. I was wondering if it was actually the iodine in shellfish which is what is bothering me. Someone suggested to me that I'm only affected by iodine in the presence of mercury, which is why shellfish bothers me but the CAT scan dye did not. Does this sound plausible?

[Dr Rajput]

Hi, welcome to the forum, various proteins in the food is implicated in the allergies. Certain proteins acts as foreign to the body and generate IgE antibodies and causes subsequent allergies. It can be protein or it can be ions like iodine, metals etc. Hence, the allergen varies from person to person. The best measure to overcome this is by avoiding the exposure.

To start the allergy process there should be sensitization of the skin with the allergen i.e. your skin or GI tract is exposed to allergen before. Then during subsequent exposure the reaction will become more evident. From your history, you may not be allergic to iodine but other constituents of the sea food like sea food proteins. Mercury as a catalyst for iodine allergy seems unlikely. Take care and regards.