Abstract
Toxin-producing cyanobacteria in aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments can occur alongside a wide range of additional health hazards including biological agents and synthetic materials. Cases of intoxications involving cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, with exposure to additional hazards, are discussed. Examples of the co-occurrence of cyanobacteria in such combinations are reviewed, including cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins plus algal toxins, microbial pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria, metals, pesticides, and microplastics. Toxicity assessments of cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, and these additional agents, where investigated in bioassays and in defined combinations, are discussed and further research needs are identified.
Highlights
Research on the production, properties, monitoring, and analysis of toxigenic cyanobacteria, and of particular cyanotoxins, has increased greatly over the past 40 years [1,2,3,4,5]
On the toxicity assessment of cyanobacterial cultures and environmental samples containing cyanobacteria, and the involvement of specific cyanotoxins, the research has passed through several discernible phases
In recognition of the co-occurrence of multiple variants within individual classes of cyanotoxins, of different cyanotoxin classes, and of cyanotoxins plus phycotoxins, it is encouraging that physico-chemical methods for the co-analysis of these combinations are being developed [5,19,20,21,140]
Summary
Properties, monitoring, and analysis of toxigenic cyanobacteria, and of particular cyanotoxins, has increased greatly over the past 40 years [1,2,3,4,5]. Some strains have been reported to include multiple classes of toxins, such as microcystins and guanitoxin, as in Anabaena 525-17 [46] In addition to these cyanotoxins, all cyanobacteria characteristically produce lipopolysaccharide endotoxins [47]. Since cyanobacterial cells, whether in axenic monocyanobacterial culture or in environmental samples, can produce a range of cyanotoxins and other bioactive secondary products, bioassays with crude extracts from such sources unavoidably involve exposures to mixtures of toxic agents These may be exclusively of cyanobacterial origin when derived from monocyanobacterial axenic cultures, or from cyanobacterial plus a wide range of toxins/toxicants from additional biological and anthropogenic sources in the case of environmental samples. Whilst no evidence for enterovirus contamination of the water was apparent, Escherichia coli counts indicated that the water was unsuitable for bathing [56]
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