Having just graduated from College, Sarah Jameson was working with Earthwatch In
ID: 3509228 • Letter: H
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Having just graduated from College, Sarah Jameson was working with Earthwatch Institute to study the behavior and health status of the Tampa Bay/Sarasota Bay bottle nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population. She had done an internship with the group the prior summer, and was excited to go back. After arriving at the temporary housing in Sarasota and greeting all of her friends from last summer, she noticed that the mood was very grim. She was told that ZigZag had just washed up on the beach, dead. ZigZag was a loner male, freeze brand number 56, with a healed shark wound on the dorsal fin-ergo the nickname ZigZag. Last summer, he had been a healthy dolphin-was in top shape according to his physical exam-good weight, perfect blood counts, fecal showed no parasites. What happened?! The necropsy took place that very afternoon. After careful dissection of the already putrefying carcass, the blood work was normal. A little tricky to interpret given the partial decomposition, though. Body weight was very low. The blubber layer from the prior summer's data was 5.8 cm. The necropsy sample showed barely 2.1 cm of blubber. The lungs were filled with white frothy foam. Sputum cultures were sent out but the veterinarian had his diagnosis: pneumonia Sarah noticed that ZigZag wasn't the only dead animal washed ashore. Fish littered the beaches-their rotting carcasses giving a stinging scent to the otherwise refreshing ocean breeze. Dr. Wells, the lead PI in the study, grimly identified the causal agent: Red tide (a dinoflagellate algal bloom)Explanation / Answer
The 2 pathways of toxin exposuex are:
1.Consumption of shellfish contaminated by brevetoxins which are produced by the dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis is called neurotoxic shellfish poisoning . There are often both gastro intestinal and neurological symptoms of NSP including diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, numbness or tingling in lips face or extremities, disorientation, and partial paralysis.
2.The toxins of K. brevis can also become aerosolized by surf, winds, or breaking waves. The inhalation of aerosolized K. brevis red-tide toxins may result in conjunctival irritation, runny nose, nonproductive cough, and wheezing. However these symptoms are reversible, except for people suffering from COPD.
Dolphins and other aquatic creatures affect due to red tide through ingestion of small fishes and zoo planktons.
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