When you mention food poisoning, E. coli, listeria and salmonella usually come to mind, but there is another toxin out there that people who eat fish should be aware of. It is called ciguatera poisoning. Ciguatera poisoning comes from eating fish infected with the ciguatoxin and approximately 20,000 – 60,000 people are affected every year.
What is Ciguatera Food Poisoning (CFP)?
Ciguatera food poisoning occurs when you eat the tropical or subtropical marine finfish that may have the ciguatoxin. They may have eaten the toxic dinoflagellate Gambierdicus toxicus themselves or they may have eaten smaller fish that have eaten the toxic dinoflagellate or algae containing the toxic dinoflagellate.
How to Avoid CFP
There is no way to tell from looking at the fish if it is infected. It looks normal, smells fine, and tastes fine as well. And regular cooking, such as steaming, boiling, broiling, baking and frying, will not kill the toxin.
There have been lists published about which fish may cause CFP, but according to the World Health Organization (WHO), in total 300-400 different fish have been found to have carried the toxin. It is more important, according to WHO, to know the location where the fish was caught rather than rely on a list.
According to WHO, most of the tropical and subtropical marine finfish that have caused CFP have been caught in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and in the Caribbean. In the Indian Ocean, areas around the Maldives are relatively safe as there have not been any reports of CFP in that region, however, areas around the Reunion Islands and parts of Indonesia and Madagascar are questionable.
Symptoms
The symptoms of CFP vary and are numerous and can occur as quickly as 10 minutes after ingestion up to 24 hours after ingestion. There are standard abdominal food poisoning symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Other symptoms associated with CFP are a tingling or numbness in the mouth, arms or legs, muscle cramping, headache, vertigo, sensations of temperature reversal (hot things feel cold and vice versa), joint pain, salivation, perspiration, and hallucinations. The hallucinations have mostly been associated with those fish caught in the Western Indian Ocean. Those caught in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean have not reflected this symptom.
The symptoms for CFP can last from a day to as long as a few years.
Remedy
There is no one particular remedy that a doctor can prescribe to you if you have contracted CFP. In fact, most doctors may not even be aware of CFP. The WHO recommends induced vomiting if the meal is still in your stomach. Also, try to get pieces of the meal, especially your fish, from the plate so that it can be tested. It would be best if you could package and freeze the fish if it will be awhile before it will be tested.
Testing
Recently, a new test has been introduced that can test for the CFP toxin on fish. It is a quick test and is quite reliable. With this test and others in the pipeline for this and other foodborne toxins, our food supply will be able to be checked before it gets to us, the public.
Sources
American Chemical Society. "Fast new test for terrible form of food poisoning. ScienceDaily. 9 Nov 2011. Web. 13 Nov 2011.
"Harmful Algal Blooms." CDC Online. Web. 13 Nov 2011.
"Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: Questions and Answers." World Health Organization Online. Web. 13 Nov 2011.
Shelly Lange - Shelly Lange enjoys writing, reading, and learning about a variety of topics. She is a wife and mother, and as if that didn't keep her ...
