Marine Seafood Toxin Diseases: Issues In Epidemiology & Community Outreach

Abstract

In addition to increased seafood consumption and tourism, recent studies link global climate change with an apparent increasing incidence of the Marine Seafood Toxin diseases. However, the epidemiology of the human diseases caused by the harmful marine phytoplankton is still in its infancy. In general, the epidemiology of these diseases has consisted of case reports of acute illness, sometimes as epidemic outbreaks, associated with the ingestion of suspicious seafood. Furthermore, even these outbreaks are highly under-reported, especially in poorer countries and in traditionally non-endemic areas. True incidence data are not available due to the lack of disease and exposure biomarkers in humans, as well as the global lack of routine exposure and disease surveillance. Without true incidence data to establish background population rates, it is impossible to evaluate the impact of Global Change or the apparent increasing incidence