Prevalence of chronic symptoms of ciguatera disease in French Polynesian adults.
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.
Chateau-Degat
Marie-Ludivine
ML
Public Health Research Unit, Laval University Medical Research Center, CHUL, CHUQ, Québec, Canada.
Huin-Blondey
Marie-Odile
MO
Chinain
Mireille
M
Darius
Taiana
T
Legrand
Anne-Marie
AM
Nguyen
Ngoc Lam
NL
Laudon
François
F
Chansin
René
R
Dewailly
Eric
E
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