Ciguatera incidence in the US Virgin Islands has not increased over a 30-year time period despite rising seawater temperatures

Elizabeth G. Radke, Lynn M. Grattan, Robert L. Cook, Tyler B. Smith, Donald M. Anderson, J. Glenn Morris Jr. (Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, USA; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA)

(Artículo original)

Abstract: Ciguatera fish poisoning is the most common marine food poisoning worldwide. It has been hypothesized that increasing seawater temperature will result in increasing ciguatera incidence. In St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, we performed an island-wide telephone survey (N = 807) and a medical record review of diagnosed ciguatera cases at the emergency department of the sole hospital and compared these data with comparable data sources collected in 1980. Annual incidence from both recent data sources remained high (12 per 1,000 among adults in the telephone survey). However, the combined data sources suggest that incidence has declined by 20 % or more or remained stable over 30 years, whereas seawater temperatures were increasing. Illness was associated with lower education levels, higher levels of fish consumption, and having previous episodes of ciguatera; population shifts from 1980 to 2010 in these factors could explain an incidence decline of approximately 3 per 1,000, obscuring effects from rising seawater temperature.

https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/88/5/article-p908.xml#container-33902-item-33911

Compartir...
Publicado en Ciguatera.

Licenciada en Información Científico Técnica y Master en Bibliotecología y Ciencias de la Información, por la Universidad de La Habana, Cuba. Ha estado vinculada durante más de 25 años al área de las Ciencias de la Información y desde el 2015 labora como Especialista Principal en el Centro de Documentación e Información del Centro de Investigaciones Pesqueras (CIP) de Cuba.

Deja una respuesta

Tu dirección de correo electrónico no será publicada. Los campos obligatorios están marcados con *