RESUMEN
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.
Asunto(s)
Intoxicación por Ciguatera/epidemiología , Adulto , Enfermedad Crónica/epidemiología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Polinesia/epidemiología , Prevalencia , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to report the temporal trends of the incidence of ciguatera poisoning from 1992 to 2001 in French Polynesia. METHODS: This retrospective study analysed 7842 cases of ciguatera disease recorded over a period of 10 years. RESULTS: The annual incidence varied from 26.3 to 41.9 per 10,000 person-years. An analysis of cases grouped by archipelago revealed differences in incidences (P < 0.0001) with the most remote archipelagos having the highest incidences. A detailed analysis on a sub-sample of recorded cases for which clinical information was available (n = 1824) confirmed the neurological and gastrointestinal nature of this seafood poisoning. CONCLUSION: The incidence of ciguatera poisoning appeared relatively stable during the 10 years of the study period. However, the gradient of remoteness observed suggests an adaptation of management of ciguatera disease to each archipelago.
