ABSTRACT
Mussels, clams, oysters, and other shellfish growing in many marine locations become poisonous during the warm months from feeding on certain dinoflagellates, including Gonyaulax catenella. The flesh of a number of fish found in tropical waters may be poisonous at certain times of the vear. They apparently become poisonous by feeding on certain marine organisms. The poisonous principle contained in shellfish is a nitrogenous compound that produces a curare-like muscular paralysis. Symptoms of acute poisoning begin 30 min to 4 h after ingestion and include numbness and tingling of the face and lips that spreads to fingers and toes. The pathologic findings in deaths from shellfish poisoning are not characteristic. The most common type of fish poisoning, known as ciguatera, occurs with fish that are ordinarily considered edible but become sporadically poisonous in certain localities. In scombroid poisoning, give antihistamines, cimetidine, and corticosteroids. In ciguatera, mannitol infusion is reported to be helpful.
