title: Apparent paralytic shellfish poisoning in captive herring gulls fed commercial scallops.
abstract: This report describes an acute poisoning event observed in captive herring gull (Larus argentatus) chicks fed a batch of store-bought scallops. They developed a characteristic acute syndrome, that has not hitherto been reported in birds and the cause of which remains to be identified. We suggest that it is a variant of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) insofar as it was paralytic and caused by shellfish. However, analyses by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to identify known toxins (saxitoxins, brevetoxins, domoic acid) in the scallops were negative.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gochfeld
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008974:Mollusca; D010243:Paralysis / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D057096:Shellfish Poisoning
chemical_list: D008387:Marine Toxins