Surfrider Foundation: MAKING WAVES, 3/98, Pfiesteria article

by James Powlik, Ph.D.
Part II

In the last issue of MAKING WAVES, we brought to you Part I of this article which covered the background of what Pfiesteria is-

The Symptoms From Hell, Too
The symptoms attributed to incidental poisoning by toxic dinoflagellates have been known for some time. Usually, the illness results from eating shellfishămussels, clams, oystersăthat have retained high concentrations of toxic dinos in their tissues; these afflictions are commonly known as toxic shellfish poisoning. In most cases, ingestion of the concentrated dinos produces tingling of the lips or tongue, localized numbness, dizziness, or nausea (not unlike the effects from toxins of the puffer fish, or fugu). As lipophilic chemicals, the toxins accumulate in fatty tissues and can be transferred to embryos or the milk of mammals. In lesser doses, the symptoms begin within minutes, last from hours to days, and are usually not fatal. At higher doses, the toxins can permanently disrupt the ion channels that permit communication between the body's cells, resulting in irreversible neurological disorders and damage to the immune system.
Three of the most common examples of shellfish poisoning are:

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), which often results from clams that retain high levels of the dino Alexandrium (AKA Protogonyaulax). The dino may be retained in the tissue of the clam (which itself is unaffected) for up to two years after the dino bloom. Alexandrium produces high levels of saxitoxin as a deterrent to grazing and a possible a metabolic product. Tingling of lips, mouth, and numbness of the limbs usually begin within 10 minutes of consumption;
Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), which results from eating mussels infected with Dinophysis dinos. Dinophysis produces concentrated levels of okadaic acid, which is fat soluble and over time can accumulate in animals higher in the food chain. As the name suggests, the symptoms of DSP include nausea and diarrhea, but it is not usually fatal; and
Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), which results from consumption of domoic acid produced by Nitzschia and Pseudonitschia, species of another kind of microscopic algae known as diatoms. Contaminating shellfish, the domoic acid may in turn accumulate in the tissues of maritime birds and coastal fish. The symptoms of ASP include cramps, vomiting, disorientation, dizziness, and memory loss. Domoic acid, a neuroexcitatory amino acid, acts like glutamine and can overstimulate parts of the brain responsible for cognition.

    The activity of the toxin (or toxins) produced by Pfiesteria is not yet fully understood. Symptoms related to Pfiesteria exposure reported by Glasgow and Burkholder (1995) include: lethargy, respiratory problems akin to asthma, stomach and muscular cramps, nausea, vomiting, irritation of the eyes and blurred vision, localized sweating, erratic heart beat, sudden rages and behavioral aberrations, memory loss, chronic fatigue, and numbness in the limbs, hands and feet. Suppression of T-cell levels may also indicate effects on the immune system. Despite the fact that lab technicians working with concentrated Pfiesteria cultures have reported these, and other, debilitating symptoms, public officials remain adamant that no significant health risks have been associated with natural levels of exposure to Pfiesteria. Residents, fishermen, and crabbers inclined to dispute the claim have, until recently, avoided stepping forward for fear of losing their livelihood. For tourists passing through the affected area, the association of such symptoms with a microscopic menace is not an obvious one.
    Other means of transmitting Pfiesteria's toxin include direct contact with the skin (as by swimming), infection of open cuts or abrasions, or ingestion of infected fish. While the details are not yet apparent, keeping the health hazards of Pfiesteria in check is clearly more involved than simply advising people not to eat fish with lesions and stay out of the water wherever (or whenever) there is a fish kill.

The Killer's Accomplice
    From 1991 to 1993, the presence of Pfiesteria was implicated in the death of up to half a billion fish per year in North Carolina aloneă50 to 60% of the total fish kill estimate. The tens of thousands of fish recently found dead in Maryland's Pocomoke River represented that area's first major fish kill in seven years. As the source of the kill was investigated, Pfiesteria was found in water and sediment samples from the Choptank, Patauxent, and Wye rivers in Maryland and the York River in Virginia, but scientists urged investigators to continue looking for other agents potentially lethal to fish. If the Chesapeake Bay watershed has an advantage over its cousins in North Carolina, it is its greater depth and higher degree of water replenishment from the open sea. Left in warm, stagnant conditions, dino blooms can last for up to four months, often doubling their cell population in as little as two days.
    Scientists have long known that nutrient loadingăthe oversupply of nutrients such a nitrogen or phosphorus to the waterăcan produce a plankton bloom. Up to 70% of the fish kills attributed to Pfiesteria in North Carolina were in locales inundated by high levels of discharged by the local phosphate-making industry. To compound the problem, it is estimated that the $1billion-a-year North Carolina hog industry, begun in earnest less than 15 years ago and now second-largest in the nation, produces 10 million tons of animal waste each year. Much of this waste is discharged as wastewater or runoff without sufficient treatment.
    Fertilizer runoff from some 170,000 acres of agricultural landsăprimarily the nutrient-rich manure from some 600 million chickens raised on the DelMarVa peninsulaăwas implicated in the Pocomoke fish kill. The same month, Smithfield Foods was fined $12.6 million for dumping hog waste into the Pagan River, the largest court-imposed fine ever levied for violating water pollution regulations. The original case by Federal prosecutors was for $20 million, alleging more then 7000 violations of the Clean Water Act since 1991. Since the 1970s, Smithfield discharged untreated fecal and other bodily waste from slaughtered hogs directly into the river. It didn't help Smithfield's case that company chairman Joseph W. Luter III contributed $125,000 to then-governor George Allen's political action committee while Smithfield was negotiating a pollution settlement with the state. The conditions of the agreement allowed the company to continue to discharge illegally high levels of waste into the river, provided Smithfield connected its slaughterhouses to the public wastewater systems „as soon as possible.ľ In response to such revelations, Donald S. Beyer Jr., gubernatorial candidate for Virginia, recently scoffed: „Virginia's environmental enforcement has made us the laughing stock of the nation.ľ
    Certainly there are at least a few snickers deserved elsewhere. It's not news that such industries are attracted to areas with lenient environmental policies under the guise of economic development. Regional legislatures are too often quick to accommodate them without regard to environmental issues. It's not news that it is often smaller companies that bear the largest proportion of waste control costs by being the only ones to follow the letter-of-the-law. After the fact, when dead fish begin to turn up by the thousands and the air is a potential health hazard, finger-pointing seems nearly irrelevant. But as investigators dig deeper into the situation, the magnitude of the problems in our troubled coastal waters continues to rise to the surface like so many ulcerated fish.

What You Can Do
    As a supporter of the Surfrider Foundation, you're already supporting several initiatives that can help check the occurrence and effects of Pfiesteria.
    Be aware that everything that enters a drain, a ditch, or runs off a watershed, eventually ends up in our coastal waters. The result is the same whether you live in Los Angeles or Lubbock. The Northern Hemisphere alone dumps 14 billion pounds of garbage into the ocean each year. Nutrients and thermal warming produced by this discharge promotes the growth of algae, some of it toxic or fatal to other organisms, including humans.
    See a doctor and report instances of illness or unusual health symptoms resulting from a visit to the beach. Note any agricultural, industrial, or municipal agents potentially responsible for temporary or long-term depletion in water quality, and where appropriate, report them.
    Be aware that breakwaters, jetties, and other developments increase the size and number of slack-water coastal areas prone to develop stagnant, unmixed conditions, which accumulate pollution and provide ideal breeding grounds for organisms like Pfiesteria.
    Support legislation calling for increased detail and frequency of water quality monitoring and increased responsibility in reporting potential health effects to beach users.
    Require all representatives of local industry to follow the established regulations for environmental protection. Whenever possible, call for improved treatment of wastewater and a reduction in the amount of waste discharged.
    Urge your local officials to ensure responsible and timely reporting of actual water quality conditions throughout the year. In the winter months, surfers may be the only ones left to use the beach, and often bear the brunt of unmonitored pollution and unreported health effects.
    Share this information with a friend.

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