Shellfish toxin
Biological name:
Shellfish poisoning is caused by a variety of toxins synthesized by some phytoplankton. These algae (in most cases, flagellates, which can cause red tide) are shellfish food. These toxins accumulate in shellfish and are sometimes metabolized. Among them, 20 kinds of toxins can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), all of which are derivatives of clam toxins. Diarrhea shellfish poisoning (DSP) is probably caused by a group of high molecular weight polyethers, including okadaic acid, dinotoxin, pettenotoxins, and yessotoxin. A kind of polyether called brevitoxin can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP). Amnesia shellfish poisoning (ASP) is caused by special amino acids and domoic acid, which are shellfish pollutants.
Name of disease:
Types of shellfish poisoning: paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), diarrheal shellfish poisoning (DSP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) and amnesia shellfish poisoning (ASP).
Disease characteristics:
Eating contaminated shellfish can produce various symptoms, depending on the types of toxins, their concentrations in shellfish, and the amount of contaminated shellfish eaten. In the cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning, the clinical manifestations are mostly neurological, including tingling, burning, numbness, lethargy, incoherent speech and respiratory paralysis. The symptoms of DSP, NSP and ASP are even more atypical. DSP generally presents mild gastrointestinal disorders, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain accompanied by chills, headache and fever. NSP has both gastrointestinal symptoms and neurological symptoms, including tingling sensation and numbness of lips, tongue and throat, muscle pain, dizziness, cold and hot sensation inversion, diarrhea, and vomiting. ASP is characterized by gastrointestinal disorder (vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain) and nervous system symptoms (unclear discrimination, memory loss, loss of directional perception, seizure, coma).
Related foods that cause diseases:
All shellfish (filter-feeding mollusks) are potentially toxic. However, PSP is generally related to mussels (sea rainbow), clams, scallops, and scallops; NSP is related to shellfish caught from Florida coast and Gulf of Mexico; DSP is related to mussels (sea rainbow), oysters and scallops, while ASP is related to mussels (sea rainbow).
Incidence:
Because there is no good statistical data on the occurrence and severity of shellfish poisoning, there is no way to get the real incidence of this kind of disease. Cases of shellfish poisoning are often misdiagnosed as other diseases and are rarely reported. Among the four types of shellfish poisoning, PSP is the most serious from the public health point of view. In the past, the strong toxicity of PSP toxin has led to a very high mortality rate.
Complications:
PSP: Poisoning symptoms progress quite quickly, and can occur within 0.5 to 2 hours after ingestion of shellfish, which mainly depends on the amount of toxins ingested. In severe cases, respiratory paralysis is very common, and death may occur if respiratory support is not provided. If respiratory support is applied within 12 hours after poisoning, patients can often recover completely without lasting side effects. For special cases, because this toxin has a weak blood pressure lowering effect, even with respiratory support, death may still occur due to cardiovascular failure.
NSP: This kind of poisoning occurs within a few minutes to several hours after ingestion of shellfish; The duration is quite short, from a few hours to several days. Recover completely with almost no sequelae; No deaths have been reported.
DSP: The occurrence of this kind of poisoning depends on the dosage of the toxin, which can occur within as little as 30 minutes to two or three hours after the shellfish is ingested, and the symptoms of the disease last for 2 to 3 days. Recovery is completely without sequelae; This disease is generally not life-threatening.
ASP: This kind of poisoning is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms within 24 hours; The neurological symptoms occurred within 48 hours. In the elderly, the symptoms of poisoning are particularly serious, and there may be symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. So far, all deaths have occurred in elderly patients.