“Different people respond to the toxins in different ways – from not being affected at all to experiencing a range of severe symptoms. Michael Mullan, physician and research scientist. One key question about red tide impacts on human health is why individuals respond so differently, said Roskamp Institute Executive Director Dr. “Our study also indicates that repeated airborne exposures in otherwise healthy people can also make them more sensitive to red tide.” However, we did not expect that people would report NSP-like symptoms,” she said. “Building on previous findings, we found that migraine sufferers reported headaches during red tide blooms. brevis blooms and reporting of upper respiratory and neurotoxin-associated symptoms.” Laila Abdullah, Research Scientist at the Roskamp Institute, and lead author of the paper “Exposure-response relationship between K. “During previous studies looking at how red tide toxins affected lung function, study participants sometimes reported headaches, and we thought it was important to investigate this further,” said Dr. When neurological symptoms were reported, they usually occurred at the same time volunteers experienced respiratory symptoms. Not surprisingly, the more severe the red tide bloom the more volunteers were likely to report respiratory symptoms. It showed that reporting of neurological symptoms was more common when a red tide bloom was present in the area compared to when it was not present. This study was conducted with more than 250 community volunteers from Sarasota, Manatee, Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties. Among individuals who experienced NSP-like symptoms, more tended to have a prior medical history of migraine or chronic fatigue syndrome.Īlthough respiratory symptoms are well-documented during red tide blooms, neurological aspects have not been fully examined in large populations, such as the one studied in this project. Even though volunteers had not eaten contaminated shellfish, some reported symptoms similar to NSP. Prior to the study it was well-known that eating red tide toxin-contaminated shellfish produces an illness called neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) which causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness and tingling, dizziness, headache, and a reversal of hot and cold sensations. However, participants in this study had only been exposed to red tide toxins in the air. According to the study, individuals with a prior medical history of migraine or chronic fatigue syndrome (extreme fatigue that worsens with physical and/or mental activity) are more likely to have symptoms that have previously only been associated with eating seafood contaminated with red tide toxins.
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