title: Ciguatera incidence and fish toxicity in Okinawa, Japan.
abstract: Okinawa being located in the subtropical region has the highest incidence of ciguatera in Japan. Officially, 33 outbreaks involving 103 patients have been reported between 1997 and 2006. The implicated species were Variola louti, Lutjanus bohar, Lutjanus monostigma, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, unidentified Lutjanus sp., Plectropomus areolatus, Oplegnathus punctatus, Epinephelus polyphekadion, Caranx ignobilis and moray eel. Toxicities of the leftover meals, as determined by mouse bioassays, ranged from 0.025 to 0.8 MU/g or above (equivalent to 0.175-5.6 ngCTX1B/g). We collected 612 specimens of fish belonging to L. monostigma, L. bohar, Lutjanus argentimaculatus, Lutjanus russellii, V. louti, Variola albimarginata, and E. fuscoguttatus from the coasts around Okinawa and examined the toxicity of the flesh by the mouse bioassay. The rate of toxic fish was as follows: L. monostigma: 32.3%, L. bohar: 11.9%, V. louti: 14.3%, E. fuscoguttatus: 20.8%. Only one out of 36 samples of V. albimarginata and two of 74 samples of L. russellii were found toxic. None of the 35 samples of L. argentimaculatus was toxic. Nor the L. bohar samples weighing less than 4 kg were toxic. In all toxic samples, CTX1B was detected by LC/MS analysis but CTX3C and 51-hydroxyCTX3C were not.
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Prefectural Institute of Health and Environment, Ozato, Nanjo, Okinawa, Japan. ooshronm@pref.okinawa.lg.jp
authors.forename: Naomasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oshiro
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yogi
authors.forename: Shuko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asato
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamanaha
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirama
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasumoto
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inafuku
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D036841:Ciguatera Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002922:Ciguatoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D051379:Mice; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D002922:Ciguatoxins