Ciguatera poisoning

[Reaper]

Hi all,

Just wanted to hear from anyone else who may have a dose of the above. Caught a Long Tail and Mackeral in the bay other week and after eating them 5 adults and a couple of kids came down with the symptons of Ciguatera poisoning.

Talked to QLD health and they seem to think the same dropped in the fish but said theres not a test for it however they ruled out the tuna. Initial symptoms are gastrointestinal, including nausea, cramping and vomiting. This is followed by neurological discomforts: headaches, flushing, muscular aching and weakness, tingling and numbing sensation of the lips, tongue and mouth, dizziness, myalgia, and arthralgia. More severe cases have experienced a cold-to-hot sensory reversal such that cold objects feel hot and hot objects feel cold.

Anyone else had anything??:o

[kingie]

Ciguatera symptoms can be close to food poisioning except for the hot/cold reversal and itch under the skin. In 25 years of eating spanish mackerel to 30kg in SE Qld there has never been a problem. Commercial fishermen have no restrictions in selling large fish. In schoolies and spotties Cig is very rare in areas it normally occures, Morton Bay is not a known area making Cig a long shot, salmonella is another possibility.

If your fish were iced well, processed and stored correctly and there is no cross contamination from cutting boards etc or other food served with the meal then you might have been just unlucky.

You'll never know for sure.

Cheers
KINGIE

[disorderly]

Reaper what size and variety of mackeral was it?
Also do you keep the fish on ice while you are fishing?

Cheers Scott

[choppa]

hoping its not the dreaded ciguatera reaper,,, but if it is you have quite a battle ahead,,

spaniard king and family were stricken with this in early 2006,,,, if you do a ""search"" under ciguatera as a post request you'll find a hos of info,,,

maybe even a pm to him may help

all the best,,,,,,,,,,,,,

choppa

[Reaper]

Disorderly - The Mac was a spotty at around 70-80 cm

Kingie - I know what you are saying I ate boat loads of these up in Darwin and also was retracing my gutting fileting icing steps.

Choppa - Thanks for the tip did a search and found the info

Cheers

[hervey_bay]

Was there anything else on the menu that could have been a source of problem ?
I've never heard of spotted Macks being a potential source of Cig .

Maybe look at things like mayonaisse or tartare sauce etc. etc. , anything else that was common to all to those affected . Sometimes people keep things like that in the fridge for too long , especially after being opened . That's why we have "use by" dates.

My bet would be Salmonella , it fits most of the symptoms described in the opening post. It's worth looking into , just in case someone returned the cause to the refrigerator for later.

[blaze]

send a pm to member "spandiad king" he and his family copped it last year
cheers
blaze
ps
should read all the threads before replying, well done choppa

[LBGaddict]

the dinoflaggelate that causes ciguatera poisoning has to be magnified through the food chain for it to magnify enough in a top line predator like a tuna or mackerel and even then theyre not very succeptable to it
considering they are transient schools and never really present in any one place for more than a month or 2 then its highly unlikely
better check your food preparation
.....hypercondria is such a pain

[Reaper]

LBGaddict,
I also agree that it is rare and unlikely, however I am a 32 yr old who attends the gym 3 times, runs 20-30kms and play competitive sport at a high level every week who currently can bearly walk due to join and muscle pain, have major fatique problems and have reverse sensations hot is cold and cold is hot all symptoms of cig..so would argue your rediculous comment of hypercondria and suggest I am someone with something looking for answers but thanks for other info.

[leezor]

Hi Reaper,

I copped a dose of cig around 15 years ago, used to live on Spanish mackeral and big coral trout back then. Experienced most of the symptoms you have described the worst one I remember was not being able to drink alcahol, tasted terrible. The reversal of hot/cold was a really bizarre feeling. I was around 20 years old then and got over it pretty quickly and have no problems since.
Eat reef fish and mackeral at least once a week these days and don't even think twice about cig when cooking up dinner.

[Adamy]

I heard a story once about a guy who got cig and from then on he was like a canary... whenever they caught a big reefie they would slit the guts - he would insert his hands and if the fish had cig his hands would tingle and they would throw the fish over the side. What do you think? Truth or urban fishing myth?

Reaper hope you and the family are OK - let us know the outcome.

Adam

[Ninja]

I would find it hard to think one spottie at only 70-80cm could hold enough cig to make 5 adults and a few kids sick...let alone....even be enough to share between that many and I very often catch LTs over a meter and eat heaps of the meat and have never had issues. I hope you're wrong mate cause if you were not....it would reaaly change fishing in the bay.

[gruntahunta]

Hi all,

Just wanted to hear from anyone else who may have a dose of the above. Caught a Long Tail and Mackeral in the bay other week and after eating them 5 adults and a couple of kids came down with the symptons of Ciguatera poisoning.

Talked to QLD health and they seem to think the same dropped in the fish but said theres not a test for it however they ruled out the tuna. Initial symptoms are gastrointestinal, including nausea, cramping and vomiting. This is followed by neurological discomforts: headaches, flushing, muscular aching and weakness, tingling and numbing sensation of the lips, tongue and mouth, dizziness, myalgia, and arthralgia. More severe cases have experienced a cold-to-hot sensory reversal such that cold objects feel hot and hot objects feel cold.

Anyone else had anything??:o
REAPER
what do you mean by "more severe cases"....is this from a book quoting the symptoms or about some of your parties symptons?
And what is myalgia and arthralgia.....bet most people here dont know what they are

[barkers creek]

my mum had it very bad put her in hospital for 3 weeks, she couldent walk on tiles bare foot because it was two cold making a coffea was nilly impossibal beacause she couldent grab the milk out of the fridge its a very sevear thingh.

[Reaper]

Gruntahunter,

Correct that was a cut & paste from a cig symptoms page but are all the symptoms we have. Myalgia and Arthralgia are muscle and joint soreness and are the worst ones to have, I believe, of the symptoms I have.

All,

Thanks for the replies, will let you know how it goes

Regards

[barneyII]

If you had cold/hot sensation reversal, you had have ciguatera poisoning. Wouldn't rule out either tuna or mackeral. Cases come from things such as coral trout, red emporer, some trevally, mackeral etc.

Very unlucky by the sounds not as if you are targeting fisah that are known as high risk. Good luck on the recovery, just stay off the grog and seafood of any kind for a while.