Abstract

VALE, Paulo. Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning: A Rare Syndrome with Decadal-Like Periodicity?. Medicina Interna [online]. 2019, vol.26, n.4, pp.57-65. ISSN 0872-671X.  https://doi.org/10.24950/rspmi/Revisao/96/19/4/2019.

Paralytic seafood poisoning is a rare syndrome in Portugal, coinciding with the consumption of bivalves that fed upon the toxic microalgae Gymnodinium catenatum. It is mainly characterized by neurological symptoms, such as paresthesias, incoherent speech, ataxia, dyspnoea, apnoea, which can culminate in death from respiratory paralysis. To prevent this syndrome from taking place, periodic monitoring of paralytic shellfish poisoning biotoxins is mandatory before bivalves are harvested for commercialization. However, ignorance or disrespect of the harvest bans in force has led to sporadic poisonings that required hospitalization. For several decades the occurrence of high contamination levels with these biotoxins in bivalves of the Iberian Atlantic coast has occurred in decadal-like intervals. These years of very high toxicity have coincided with years in which solar activity (derived from the 11-year sunspot cycle) is at its minimum. The seasonality of this contamination is more severe in the autumn and known hospital admissions have also occurred in the autumn.

Keywords : Dinoflagellida; Marine Toxins; Paralysis; Shellfish Poisoning; Solar Activity.

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