Abstract

VALE, Paulo. Emergent biotoxins in European waters and new public health risks. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2011, vol.29, n.1, pp.77-87. ISSN 0870-9025.

In Europe, public health problems related to marine biotoxins have been largely related to consumption of bivalve contaminated by toxic microalgae, like in other temperate zones of the planet. However, in Mediterranean countries new public health risks have starting to be recurrent since the first decade of the xxi century. Climate changing seems to be favouring the appearance of biotoxins common only in tropical zones at progressively higher latitudes. In this review the problems that progressively emergent biotoxins have been causing in Southern Europe, including palytoxins, tetrodotoxins and ciguatoxins, will be summarised. The presence of palytoxins in the Mediterranean sea led to the inclusion of the aerosol exposure route in the transfer of biotoxins to man. Until recently, only food ingestion was a known route. Exposure to marine aerosol was already responsible for a few outbreaks of respiratory symptoms in Italy and Spain. These biotoxins are produced by the microalgae Ostreopsis ovata. These problems occurred in summer time in sheltered bays, affecting inhabitants and tourists. The opening of the Suez Channel created the appropriate conditions for the establishment in the east Mediterranean Sea of the puffer-fish Lagocephalus sceleratus, originating in the Red Sea, bearing tetrodotoxins. Specimens were captured in the Aegan Sea on several occasion and caused some food poisonings in Israel, having constituted permanent populations in this area. Juvenile specimens might be confused with other edible fish and consumed by mistake. Until 2004, the registered cases of ciguatera fish poisoning in European countries originated from previous travel to risk areas, such as Caribbean Sea, Indic or Pacific Oceans. Fish contaminated with ciguatera toxins was first captured in 2004 at the Canary Islands. Recurrence of the phenomena further north in 2008, with fish captured at Selvagens Islands (Madeira Arquipelago), and in end of 2008 again in Canary Islands, led to the establishment of size limits for fish harvest. The species implicated in the most severe outbreaks always belonged to Seriola spp (amberjack). The recent identification of ciguatera toxins in Seriola fasciata, and the progressive presence of this species from the eastern Mediterranean until the Aegean sea, raise concern about the future expansion of ciguateric fish in the Mediterranean. An isolated case of food poisoning after trumpet shell contaminated with tetrodotoxins, also questions what will be the possible future extension of emergent biotoxins in the Mediterranean.

Keywords : Seafood poisoning; Climate changes; Aerosol; Ostreopsis; Puffer-fish; Ciguatera; Palytoxin; Tetrodotoxin.

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