Citation

Rodrigue DC, Etzel RA, Hall S, de Porras E, Velasquez OH, Tauxe RV, Kilbourne EM, Blake PA. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1990; 42(3): 267-271.

Affiliation

Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Publisher American Society of Tropical Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2316796

Abstract

An outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning occurred in Champerico, on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, July-August 1987. Of 187 people affected with characteristic neurologic symptoms, 26 died. A case study implicated a species of clam, Amphichaena kindermani, harvested from local beaches as the vehicle of the neurotoxins (saxitoxins). Children less than 6 years old had a higher fatality rate (50%) than people greater than 18 years of age (7%). The minimum lethal dose for 1 child was estimated to have been 140 mouse units of toxin/kg body weight; thus children may be more sensitive to the saxitoxins than are adults. This is the first large outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning recognized in Guatemala.

Language: en