brevetoxin and Diarrhea

The frequency and scale of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) and marine algal toxin incidents have been increasing and spreading in the past two decades, causing damages to the marine environment and threatening human life through contaminated seafood. To better understand the effect of HAB and marine algal toxins on marine environment and human health in China, this paper overviews HAB occurrence and marine algal toxin incidents, as well as their environmental and health effects in this country. HAB has been increasing rapidly along the Chinese coast since the 1970s, and at least 512 documented HAB events have occurred from 1952 to 2002 in the Chinese mainland. It has been found that PSP and DSP toxins are distributed widely along both the northern and southern Chinese coasts. The HAB and marine algal toxin events during the 1990s in China were summarized, showing that the HAB and algal toxins resulted in great damages to local fisheries, marine culture, quality of marine environment, and human health. Therefore, to protect the coastal environment and human health, attention to HAB and marine algal toxins is urgently needed from the environmental and epidemiological view.

Topics: Amnesia; Animals; China; Ciguatoxins; Diarrhea; Dinoflagellida; Environment; Eukaryota; Eutrophication; Fisheries; Food Contamination; Foodborne Diseases; Humans; Kainic Acid; Lethal Dose 50; Marine Toxins; Neurotoxicity Syndromes; Okadaic Acid; Oxocins; Paralysis; Seawater; Shellfish Poisoning

Eutrophication phenomena in marine coastal waters can today be explained on the basis of natural or anthropogenic causes. Undesirable effects and also sanitary problems in both types of eutrophication are often produced, but they may differ greatly in frequency and significance. Some algal biotoxins can affect both marine animals and man, whilst others affect man alone. From data currently available it appears that the sanitary state of man can be affected through the digestive, respiratory and cutaneous apparatus. Four main dinoflagellate biointoxications are now recognized: paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), diarrhoetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), and venerupin poisoning. Other biointoxications are due to a diatom bloom responsible for amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) and to blue algae blooms which have effects on the skin and the respiratory tract. All these marine toxins are considered and particular attention is paid to: producing organisms, chemistry of the components, compromised sea foods, methods of analysis, occurrence worldwide, human intoxications, toxicology and mechanism of action on a molecular level, therapeutical notes, tolerance levels and remarks on safety. Attention is also paid to the relationship between the anthropogenic eutrophication and PSP and DSP since these are the most widespread biointoxications from toxic marine dinoflagellates in the world today and for which the European Economic Community (EEC) is proposing health legislation such as tolerance limits and methods for official analysis. In view of the harmful potential of coastal anthropogenic eutrophication, the main current committment of various countries concerns control. Finally, it is important to develop a suitable monitor research system using all the specific standards of allowed toxic substances, and also research on effective antiodotes against all biotoxins.

Topics: Animals; Diarrhea; Dinoflagellida; Eutrophication; Food Contamination; Foodborne Diseases; Humans; Marine Toxins; Maximum Allowable Concentration; Nervous System Diseases; Oxocins; Saxitoxin; Shellfish