title: Prevalence of chronic symptoms of ciguatera disease in French Polynesian adults.
abstract: Ciguatera is a tropical disease caused by seafood poisoning, for which the duration of symptoms remains to be determined. The objectives of this prospective study were to determine the prevalence of symptoms at different time points and to identify factors associated with chronic symptoms observed in adults suffering from this disease. At the time of onset, we observed a dose-response relationship including a strong association between the delay of appearance of symptoms and a severity index (P < 0.001). Our results confirmed the key role of fish organs in the risk of contracting a more severe form of ciguatera. In the chronic stage, only the severity score based on information recorded in the acute phase is related to the persistence of symptoms (P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that several symptoms observed in the acute phase of the disease are still experienced 15 days after onset. This supports previous observations based on isolated case reports.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Unit, Laval University Medical Research Center, CHUL, CHUQ, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Ludivine
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chateau-Degat
authors.forename: Marie-Odile
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Huin-Blondey
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chinain
authors.forename: Taiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Darius
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.forename: Ngoc Lam
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Laudon
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chansin
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dewailly
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D036841:Ciguatera Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011114:Polynesia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013997:Time Factors