A collaborative response to emerging threats to human health in the Salish Sea: Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) and Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP)
Presentation Abstract
The first confirmed DSP human illnesses in the United States occurred in 2011 due to the consumption of mussels from Sequim Bay State Park on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The emergence of this new threat to public health had an immediate impact on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, whose shellfish beds were located nearby. In the four years since, the Tribe has collaborated with NOAA, the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH) and the volunteer-based SoundToxins partnership to help develop a management strategy for DSP. DSP has proved to be a persistent problem in Sequim Bay with shellfish above the regulatory limit for DSP toxins every year since the initial human cases. In addition, the causative organisms, dinoflagellates of the genus Dinophysis, are also quite common in the spring, summer and fall in Sequim Bay. This collaboration has, in the last few years been able to determine that DTX-1 is the most common DSP toxin in Puget Sound shellfish, the relative uptake rates of DSP toxins in several species of shellfish and how best to utilize SoundToxin’s observations of Dinophysis in the water column to prioritize shellfish samples for DSP testing at the WDOH laboratory. These partners have now turned their focus to the potentially toxic dinoflagellates in the genus Azadinium. Azadinium has been known produce azaspiracids in other parts of the world, toxins that can a cause a syndrome in humans called Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP) with symptoms similar to DSP. In a pilot study three species of these small dinoflagellates were found in Puget Sound using the molecular technique of qPCR (A. spinosum, A. obesum, and A. poporum). A new multi-year study will determine the distribution of Azadinium species in Puget Sound and whether they are producing azaspiracids.
Session Title
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) and marine pathogens in a changing world
Conference Track
Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Poisonous shellfish--Monitoring--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Shellfish as food--Contamination--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Dinoflagellates--Detection--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
Subjects – Names (LCNAF)
SoundToxins (Partnership); Washington (State). Department of Health
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
A collaborative response to emerging threats to human health in the Salish Sea: Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) and Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP)
2016SSEC
The first confirmed DSP human illnesses in the United States occurred in 2011 due to the consumption of mussels from Sequim Bay State Park on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The emergence of this new threat to public health had an immediate impact on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, whose shellfish beds were located nearby. In the four years since, the Tribe has collaborated with NOAA, the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH) and the volunteer-based SoundToxins partnership to help develop a management strategy for DSP. DSP has proved to be a persistent problem in Sequim Bay with shellfish above the regulatory limit for DSP toxins every year since the initial human cases. In addition, the causative organisms, dinoflagellates of the genus Dinophysis, are also quite common in the spring, summer and fall in Sequim Bay. This collaboration has, in the last few years been able to determine that DTX-1 is the most common DSP toxin in Puget Sound shellfish, the relative uptake rates of DSP toxins in several species of shellfish and how best to utilize SoundToxin’s observations of Dinophysis in the water column to prioritize shellfish samples for DSP testing at the WDOH laboratory. These partners have now turned their focus to the potentially toxic dinoflagellates in the genus Azadinium. Azadinium has been known produce azaspiracids in other parts of the world, toxins that can a cause a syndrome in humans called Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP) with symptoms similar to DSP. In a pilot study three species of these small dinoflagellates were found in Puget Sound using the molecular technique of qPCR (A. spinosum, A. obesum, and A. poporum). A new multi-year study will determine the distribution of Azadinium species in Puget Sound and whether they are producing azaspiracids.
