Pilot Study Examines Ciguatera Fish PoisoningWHOI Tropical Research Initiative funds investigation of toxic algae |
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| Enlarge ImageResearchers traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands to collect seaweed that host algae that cause ciguatera fish poisoning (from left, Don Anderson, Deana Erdner, and Robert Dickey). (Photo by Lauren Anderson) |
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| Enlarge ImageSingle-celled, toxin-producing Gambierdiscus algae live on seaweed stalks that are eaten by fish. (Photo by Yasuwo Fukuyo, University of Tokyo) |
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It is one of the most common illnesses from eating seafood, sickening
more than 50,000 people a year, and it is on the rise around the world.
Yet most people in the United States have never heard of it: ciguatera
fish poisoning.
Ciguatera produces a variety of unpleasant symptoms, including
vomiting, diarrhea, numbness, breathing difficulties, and bizarre
reverse sensations of heat and cold. Recovery can take years. There is
no reliable way to detect whether a fish has ciguatera poison without using
elaborate toxin extraction methods and complex analytical instruments.
In some places, people have tried using cats or other animals to test
food, but this is far from reliable.
Scientists know the cause: single-celled marine algae called Gambierdiscus living on seaweeds. They produce a substance that is transformed into a toxin when reef fish graze on seaweed and consume the Gambierdiscus cells; larger fish eat the grazing fish, passing the accumulated toxin up the food chain, eventually to people.
But scientists don’t yet understand fundamental aspects of how, when, and where various strains of Gambierdiscus
grow and live. Funded by the WHOI Ocean Life Institute’s Tropical
Research Initiative, a team of researchers launched a study of Gambierdiscus.
They collected seaweed samples in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2006 and
2007, bringing them back to the lab to isolate, culture, and analyze
algal cells attached to the seaweed.
The team—WHOI Senior Scientist Don Anderson; Deana Erdner, a University
of Texas marine biologist and former graduate student in Anderson’s
lab; and Robert Dickey, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration
chemist—plans to map distributions of Gambierdiscus,
genetically identify different strains, and analyze their toxins. The
study aims to discover how strains and degrees of toxicity vary in
different environments. Anderson hopes this pilot study will stimulate
funding for research in collaboration with epidemiologists and
neuropsychologists who would investigate the human side of the
poisoning syndrome.
“Our research spans scientific fields, making it harder to place within
funding agencies’ traditional research categories,” Anderson said. “The
WHOI Tropical Research Initiative provided invaluable seed money that
lets us begin this important cross-disciplinary research.”
—Kate Madin
Posted: September 21, 2007 [top] |
