Abstract
The potential for poisoning of humans through their consumption of shellfish which have themselves consumed biotoxin producing marine phytoplankton exists in the UK. Toxins are bio-accumulated within the shellfish flesh allowing them to reach harmful concentrations. This threat is in most part mitigated by monitoring programmes that assess both the presence of potentially harmful phytoplankton and shellfish flesh toxicity. However, the medical profession in the UK remains relatively ignorant of the potential for biotoxin derived shellfish toxicity, preventing quantification of magnitude, frequency, and severity of health effects in the community or the medical significance of more recently discovered toxins. While the current causative species and their toxins are relatively well characterised there remains a lack of understanding of the factors governing the temporal and spatial appearance of harmful phytoplankton. Expansion of shellfish aquaculture is likely both worldwide and in the UK. Better understanding of how harmful phytoplankton interact with their environment to promote the sporadic harmful blooms that we observe is required to underpin risk assessments.
Highlights
A variety of phytoplankton species in UK waters are responsible for the production of biotoxins
Shellfish harvesting areas in UK waters are subject to closure due to the detection of high concentrations of toxins responsible for three shellfish poisoning syndromes: paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) and amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP)
In this short paper, based on the proceedings of a science/industry workshop "Relating Harmful Phytoplankton to Shellfish Poisoning and Human Health" held in October 2007, we summarise the status of shellfish toxins and human health in UK waters
Summary
A variety of phytoplankton species in UK waters are responsible for the production of biotoxins. In these regions relatively low cell densities of Alexandrium (< 2,000 cells L-1) have been associated with closures of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) harvesting areas following shellfish toxicity above the regulatory limit (Figure 1). A(FMliegyxutailrnuedsre1iudmulics)elflrnoummtbheersOarnkdnePySPIsltaonxdicsitdyurinintgh1e9b9l7ue mussel Alexandrium cell numbers and PSP toxicity in the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) from the Orkney Islands during 1997 Both PSP and ASP are potent neurotoxins, both of which have been responsible for human fatalities in other countries [14]. While it is clear that some general patterns exist, harmful phytoplankton exhibit spatial and temporal variability Such heterogeneity suggests that local risk assessments based on detailed knowledge of the physiology of the causative species and hydrography and meteorology of the local environment are most likely to be successful. The peer review of this article can be found in Additional file 1
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