1. Introduction
Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) was first
described in the 1980s , it is caused by the contamination of shellfish with toxins
originating in dinoflagellates that are predominantly
within the genera Dinophysis and Prorocentrum and
has since been reported to occur worldwide .
So far, however, there have only been three
DSP contamination incidents reported in Australia
that have resulted in illness.
The first, in December
1997, was a large outbreak associated with the
consumption of pipis in New South Wales (NSW), in which 102 people were affected; 56 of these reported to public health units with heal th compla ints .
The second outbreak of DSP, in March 1998,
affected 20 individuals in NSW.
The third outbreak in March 2000, was again linked to
the consumption of pipis, but affected only one
individual in Queensland .
In all of these cases, high concentrations of the
pectenotoxin: PTX-2 seco acid was detected in the
shellfish and the human poisonings were initially
tentatively attributed to this toxin.
However, it is now known that PTX-2 seco
acid, which is rapidly converted from PTX-2 to PTX-2
seco acid in shellfish tissues , has
little if any oral toxicity.
It is now considered that the human
intoxications experienced during the NSW and
Queensland incidents were due to acyl esters of
okadaic acid , which have previously been established as the cause of human
food poisonings elsewhere.