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  • Title: Insidious effects of a toxic estuarine dinoflagellate on fish survival and human health.
    Author: Glasgow HB, Burkholder JM, Schmechel DE, Tester PA, Rublee PA.
    Journal: J Toxicol Environ Health; 1995 Dec; 46(4):501-22. PubMed ID: 8523474.
    Abstract:
    The estuarine dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida gen. et sp. nov. produces exotoxin(s) that can be absorbed from water or fine aerosols. Culture filtrate (0.22 microns porosity filters, > 250 toxic flagellated cells/ml) induces formation of open ulcerative sores, hemorrhaging, and death of finfish and shellfish. Human exposure to aerosols from ichthyotoxic cultures (> or = 2000 cells/ml) has been associated with narcosis, respiratory distress with asthma-like symptoms, severe stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting, and eye irritation with reddening and blurred vision (hours to days); autonomic nervous system dysfunction [localized sweating, erratic heart beat (weeks)]; central nervous system dysfunction [sudden rages and personality change (hours to days), and reversible cognitive impairment and short-term memory loss (weeks)]; and chronic effects including asthma-like symptoms, exercise fatigue, and sensory symptoms (tingling or numbness in lips, hands, and feet; months to years). Elevated hepatic enzyme levels and high phosphorus excretion in one human exposure suggested hepatic and renal dysfunction (weeks); easy infection and low counts of several T-cell types may indicate immune system suppression (months to years). Pfiesteria piscicida is euryhaline and eurythermal, and in bioassays a nontoxic flagellated stage has increased under P enrichment (> or = 100 micrograms SRP/L), suggesting a stimulatory role of nutrients. Pfiesteria-like dinoflagellates have been tracked to fish kill sites in eutrophic estuaries from Delaware Bay through the Gulf Coast. Our data point to a critical need to characterize their chronic effects on human health as well as fish recruitment, disease resistance, and survival.
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