Ciguatera
Ciguatera is a tropical illness caused by the consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. It is a typical tropical disease, but it is an emerging risk in Canary islands.
Ciguatera is a tropical illness caused by the consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. It is a typical tropical disease, but it is an emerging risk in Canary islands.
Ciguatera is a disease caused by the consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins, generally carnivorous fishes which accumulate toxins produced by benthic dinoflagellates from the genus Gambierdiscus. It is a typical tropical disease, but it is an emerging risk in Canary Islands and probably also in the Mediterranean Sea.
The diagnostic of ciguatera is clinic and uses the association of at least one neurologic symptom together with other typical symptoms (diarrhea, vomits, hypotension) after eating fish. Regarding its transmission, besides the consumption of fish, there have been cases of transmission from person to person through breast milk.
The first case of ciguatera was in 2004 due to the consumption of amberfish and later in 2008 there were more cases of intoxication. Since that year, intoxications appeared periodically each year. There have been approximately 100 cases of ciguatera registered up to 2013, most of them associated to the consumption of amberfish (Seriola spp.). However, in December 2013 there was one case of intoxication (10 people affected) by consumption of grouper (Ephinephelus marginatus).
Team: Francisco Rodríguez, Rosa I. Figueroa, Isabel Bravo y Santiago Fraga