Ciguatera Incidence in the US Virgin Islands Has Not Increased over a 30-Year Time Period Despite Rising Seawater Temperatures

Elizabeth G. Radke Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Elizabeth G. Radke in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Lynn M. Grattan Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Lynn M. Grattan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Robert L. Cook Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Robert L. Cook in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Tyler B. Smith Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Tyler B. Smith in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
,
Donald M. Anderson Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by Donald M. Anderson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
, and
J. Glenn Morris Jr. Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Search for other papers by J. Glenn Morris Jr. in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

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.

Author Notes

* Address correspondence to Elizabeth G. Radke, 2055 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL 32611. E-mail: bethradke@gmail.com

Financial support: Funding for this project was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Partial funding for D.M.A. was also provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Grant NA11NOS4780060 through the ECOHAB program.

Authors' addresses: Elizabeth G. Radke, Robert L. Cook, and J. Glenn Morris Jr., Department of Epidemiology and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, E-mails: bethradke@epi.ufl.edu, cookrl@phhp.ufl.edu, and jgmorris@epi.ufl.edu. Lynn M. Grattan, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, E-mail: LGrattan@som.umaryland.edu. Tyler B. Smith, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, E-mail: tsmith@live.uvi.edu. Donald M. Anderson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, E-mail: danderson@whoi.edu.

  • 1.

    Fleming LE, Baden DG, Bean JA, Weisman R, Blythe DG, 1998. Seafood Toxin Diseases: Issues in Epidemiology and Community Outreach. In: Reguera B, Blanco J, Fernandez ML, Wyatt T, editors. Harmful Algae. Xunta de Galicia and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO; Galicia: 245–248.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 2.

    Lehane L, Lewis RJ, 2000. Ciguatera: recent advances but the risk remains. Int J Food Microbiol 61: 91–125.

  • 3.

    Dickey RW, Plakas SM, 2010. Ciguatera: a public health perspective. Toxicon 56: 123–136.

  • 4.

    Hales S, Weinstein P, Woodward A, 1999. Ciguatera (fish poisoning), El Nino, and Pacific sea surface temperatures. Ecosyst Health 5: 20–25.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 5.

    Chateau-Degat ML, Chinain M, Cerf N, Gingras S, Hubert B, Dewailly E, 2005. Seawater temperature, Gambierdiscus spp. variability and incidence of ciguatera poisoning in French Polynesia. Harmful Algae 4: 1053–1062.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 6.

    Llewellyn LE, 2010. Revisiting the association between sea surface temperature and the epidemiology of fish poisoning in the South Pacific: reassessing the link between ciguatera and climate change. Toxicon 56: 691–697.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 7.

    Tester PA, Feldman RL, Nau AW, Kibler SR, Wayne Litaker R, 2010. Ciguatera fish poisoning and sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. Toxicon 56: 698–710.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 8.

    Morris JG, Lewin P, Smith CW, Blake PA, Schneider R, 1982. Ciguatera fish poisoning epidemiology of the disease on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Am J Trop Med Hyg 31: 574–578.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 9.

    Morris JG, Blake PA, Feldman RA, Bennett JV, 1980. Ciguatera Fish Poisoning, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. EPI-80-63-2. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 10.

    Morril WT, Romansky NM, 1980. The Incidence of Ciguatera Poisoning in St. Thomas, V.I. Report under NOAA Contract 28-79 (Task 3). Washington, DC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 11.

    US Census Bureau, 2000. Census SF1: 100% Data. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.

  • 12.

    McMillan JP, Granade HR, 1980. Ciguatera fish poisoning in the United States Virgin Islands: preliminary studies. J College Virgin Islands 6: 84–107.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 13.

    NOAA/OAR/ESRL/PSD, 2011. NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature V3b. Washington, DC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 14.

    AAPOR, 2010. American Association for Public Opinion Research Response Rate Calculator V3.1. Deerfield, IL: American Association for Public Opinion Research.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 15.

    Azziz-Baumgartner E, Luber G, Conklin L, Tosteson TR, Granade HR, Dickey RW, Backer LC, 2012. Assessing the incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning with two surveys conducted in Culebra, Puerto Rico, during 2005 and 2006. Environ Health Perspect 120: 526–529.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 16.

    Skinner MP, Brewer TD, Johnstone R, Fleming LE, Lewis RJ, 2011. Ciguatera fish poisoning in the Pacific islands (1998 to 2008). PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5: e1416.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 17.

    Bomber J, Guillard R, Nelson W, 1988. Roles of temperature, salinity, and light in seasonality, growth, and toxicity of ciguatera-causing Gambierdiscus toxicus adachi et fukuyo. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 115: 53–65.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 18.

    Morton S, Norris D, 1992. Effect of temperature, salinity, and light intensity on the growth and seasonality of toxic dinoflagellates associated with ciguatera. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 157: 79–90.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 19.

    Rongo T, van Woesik R, 2011. Ciguatera poisoning in Rarotonga, southern Cook islands. Harmful Algae 10: 345–355.

  • 20.

    Lewis ND, 1986. Epidemiology and impact of ciguatera in the Pacific: a review. Mar Fish Rev 48: 6–13.

  • 21.

    Lewis RJ, Tilman AR, 1993. Ciguatera: ecological, clinical, and socioeconomic perspectives. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 23: 137–156.

  • 22.

    Bagnis R, Kuberski T, Laugier S, 1979. Clinical observations on 3009 cases of ciguatera (fish poisoning) in the south-Pacific. Am J Trop Med Hyg 28: 1067–1073.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 23.

    Glaziou P, Martin PMV, 1993. Study of factors that influence the clinical-response to ciguatera fish poisoning. Toxicon 31: 1151–1154.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 24.

    Gillespie N, 1987. Possible origins of ciguatera. Toxic Plants & Animals; a Guide for Australia, 170–179.

  • 25.

    Bagnis R, 1994. Natural versus anthropogenic disturbances to coral reefs: Comparison in epidemiological patterns of ciguatera. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 34: 455–460.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 26.

    Ruff TA, 1989. Ciguatera in the pacific—a link with military activities. Lancet 1: 201–205.

  • 27.

    Keeter S, Kennedy C, Dimock M, Best J, Craighill P, 2006. Gauging the impact of growing nonresponse on estimates from a national RDD telephone survey. Public Opin Q 70: 759–779.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 28.

    Lee S, Brown ER, Grant D, Belin TR, Brick JM, 2009. Exploring nonresponse bias in a health survey using neighborhood characteristics. Am J Public Health 99: 1811–1817.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
Past two years Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 24 24 6
Full Text Views 341 116 0
PDF Downloads 104 29 0
 
Membership Banner
 
 
 
Affiliate Membership Banner
 
 
Research for Health Information Banner
 
 
CLOCKSS
 
 
 
Society Publishers Coalition Banner
Save