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Human fatality associated with Pacific ciguatoxin contaminated fish.
- Source :
-
Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology [Toxicon] 2010 Oct; Vol. 56 (5), pp. 668-73. Date of Electronic Publication: 2009 Jun 16. - Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- Ciguatera is a food poisoning identified as the principal risk factor in the consumption of tropical fish in Oceania. The syndrome, which follows ingestion of ciguatoxin-contaminated ciguateric fishes, is characterised by an array of gastrointestinal and neurological features. In this report we examine forensic samples associated with a human fatality using a (3)H-brevetoxin binding assay and reversed-phase HPLC/MS and HPLC/MS/MS. Three Pacific ciguatoxins (P-CTX) were detected in the implicated fish flesh sample by LC-MS/MS, implicating multiple P-CTXs in the fatal case. Additionally, ciguatoxin was identified in a liver sample obtained at post-mortem. The level of ciguatoxin detected (0.14 ppb P-CTX-1 equivalents by binding assay) indicated that at least 10% of the ingested P-CTX-1 remained in the human liver 6 days after the toxic fish was consumed. This study confirms the potential of tropical reef fish to accumulate sufficient P-CTX to be lethal to humans, especially if the liver and viscera are consumed as part of the meal.<br /> (Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1879-3150
- Volume :
- 56
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 19538985
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2009.06.007