ot: Dark tides - ill winds - poisons in toxic algae blooms - LAT part 3 of Altered Oceans

[Guest guest]

Actually, for individuals and families living nearing various coastal

regions of the US, the following article is on topic by delineating how

lung function can be injured by algae toxins that blow to shore areas.

Agricultural fertilizer is a major contributor to toxic algae blooms, and

a recent article delineated how individuals within heartland communities

are experiencing lung pathologies caused or exacerbated by agricultural

molecules which are toxic and which become airborne. These intoxinations

are relevant to autism because the bodies of infants and toddlers have an

ongoingly limited reserve of detox nutrients - and this reserve is

lessened if gastro pathology and/or various weak alleles are present. In

this context, add a bolus dose, and the child may begin his or her descent

into the autism spectrum.

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[graphics photos videos on url, excellent. The graphic and fotos

delineating Florida's coast and algae's people-effects are unsettling!]

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ALTERED OCEANS

DARK TIDES, ILL WINDS

With sickening regularity, toxic algae blooms are invading coastal waters.

They kill sea life and send poisons ashore on the breeze, forcing

residents to flee.

By R. Weiss

Times Staff Writer

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean1aug01,0,2672160.story

August 1, 2006

All Leydon has to do is stick her head outside and take a deep

breath of sea air. She can tell if her 10-year-old son is about to get

sick. If she coughs or feels a tickle in the back of her throat, she lays

down the law: No playing on the beach. No, not even in the yard. Come back

inside. Now.

The Leydons thought they found paradise a decade ago when they moved from

Massachusetts to this narrow barrier island, reachable only by boat, with

gentle surf, no paved roads and balmy air that feels like velvet on the

skin.

Now, they fear that the sea has turned on them. The dread takes hold

whenever purplish-red algae stain the crystal waters of Florida's Gulf

Coast. The blooms send waves of stinking dead fish ashore and insult every

nostril on the island with something worse.

The algae produce an arsenal of toxins carried ashore by the sea breeze.

" I have to pull my shirt up and over my mouth or I'll be coughing and

hacking, " said Leydon, 42, a trim, energetic mother of three who walks the

beach every morning.

Her husband, , a 46-year-old building contractor, said the wind off

the gulf can make him feel like he's spent too much time in an

overchlorinated pool. His chest tightens and he grows short of breath. His

throat feels scratchy, his eyes burn, and his head throbs.

Their symptoms are mild compared with those of their son, also named

. He suffers from asthma and recurring sinus infections. When the

toxic breeze blows, he keeps himself — and his parents — up all night,

coughing until he vomits.

If the airborne assault goes on for more than a few days, it becomes a

community-wide affliction. At homeowners' meetings, many people wear face

masks.

On weekends, the Leydons escape inland. They drive three hours to Orlando

so their son can play outside without getting sick. They go to a Walt

Disney World resort with water slides, machine-generated currents and an

imported white sand beach.

" It's a shame to leave this beautiful place and go to a water park, "

Leydon said. " But we don't have much choice. We have to get away

from it. "

Harmful algae blooms have occurred for ages. Some scientists theorize that

a toxic bloom inspired the biblical passage in Exodus: " … all the water

in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile

stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There

was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. "

What was once a freak of nature has become commonplace. These outbreaks,

often called red tides, are occurring more often worldwide, showing up in

new places, lasting longer and intensifying.

They are distress signals from an unhealthy ocean. Overfishing,

destruction of wetlands, industrial pollution and climate change have made

the seas inhospitable for fish and more advanced forms of life and freed

the lowliest — algae and bacteria — to flourish.

A scientific consensus is emerging that commercial agriculture and coastal

development, in particular, promote the spread of harmful algae. They

generate runoff rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients that

sustain these microscopic aquatic plants. In essence, researchers say,

modern society is force-feeding the oceans with the basic ingredients of

Miracle-Gro.

Yet there is debate among Florida scientists over the precise causes of

local outbreaks. Red tides date back at least 150 years, before the state

became one of the nation's most populous. Some scientists say their

increased intensity is part of a natural cycle.

People who have spent many years on Little Gasparilla Island and in other

Florida Gulf Coast communities say red tides used to show up once in a

decade. Now, they occur almost every year and persist for months.

Red tide announced its arrival this summer by dumping dead tarpon and

goliath grouper on the beaches. Soon after, coastal residents were

coughing and sneezing.

The previous bloom, which ended in mid-February, peppered Florida's

western coast with its fiery breath for 13 months, stubbornly refusing to

dissipate despite three hurricanes.

The culprit is a microorganism known as ia brevis. Each ia cell

is a poison factory pumping out toxins collectively known as brevetoxin.

During red tides, they can be absorbed into the food chain by scallops,

oysters and other popular seafood and can cause neurotoxic shellfish

poisoning. The effects range from gastrointestinal illness to seizures,

loss of muscle control and unconsciousness.

Brevetoxin also gets into the air. It collects on the surface of bubbles

and concentrates in sea foam and on dead fish.

When the bubbles burst, brevetoxin is flung into the air and carried by

the wind. If inhaled, most particles lodge in the nose and throat, but

some are drawn deep into the lungs. People don't have to set foot in the

ocean or even on the beach to experience a red tide. It comes to them.

Most of those affected feel as if they have a cold or an allergy. But

researchers reported last year that red tides coincided with outbreaks of

severe respiratory ailments.

They compared emergency admissions at Sarasota Memorial Hospital during

three months of red tide with the same period a year later, when there was

no toxic algae.

During the red tide, admissions for pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, sinus

infections and similar afflictions rose 54%. No such increase was reported

inland.

" You can tell when it's a bad red tide, " said Dr. Garby, the

hospital's chief of emergency medicine. " The waiting room is filled with

people coughing and they don't know why. "

Most alarming was a 19% increase in cases of pneumonia, a leading cause of

death among the elderly.

Brevetoxin doesn't cause those maladies directly. Instead, researchers

believe, it makes people vulnerable by inflaming their sinuses and

suppressing their immune systems, allowing bacteria and viruses to

flourish.

Boxy air filters stationed around Sarasota have detected the wind-borne

neurotoxin three miles from the coast, said Barbara Kirkpatrick, a

researcher at Mote Marine Laboratory, a private research institute in the

city. " The public health message has been, 'If you leave the beach, you'll

be OK.' Now we know better. People who are window shopping or eating in

outdoor restaurants are still being exposed to the toxins. "

Hundreds of visitors from the Midwest and New England have posted

questions and complaints on websites, seeking to learn why, after a short

beach vacation on the west coast of Florida, they suffered weeks of

coughing, bronchial infections, dizziness, lethargy and other symptoms.

Researchers are hearing a growing number of complaints about neurological

symptoms.

Ruth DeLynn, a 79-year-old retired biologist and volunteer curator at Mote

Marine Laboratory, was hospitalized for five days last year with

respiratory distress during a particularly virulent red tide. DeLynn also

experienced numbness and a burning sensation in her legs that made it

difficult to walk. She and her doctor believe the toxin triggered a

resurgence of peripheral neuropathy that had been dormant for 15 years.

" If this is going to continue this way, " said DeLynn, who lives on a

barrier island near Sarasota, " I'm thinking of moving inland. "

Neurological symptoms usually flare only with high levels of exposure,

said Dr. Lora Fleming, a University of Miami epidemiologist and physician.

" It's all about dose. "

Fleming isn't persuaded that people on the beach can inhale enough to

suffer serious neurological effects, but she thinks surfers may be more

vulnerable.

Purdy, a former Manatee County lifeguard, was paddling his surfboard

over a wave last fall when some sea foam lifted off the water and into his

mouth just as he was gulping for air.

" I felt like I inhaled a garbage bag, " said Purdy, 33, a former high

school swimming champion. " It locked up my lungs and throat like a

paralysis. " The seconds ticked by. " I was thinking, 'Is this the way it's

going to end?' "

Eventually, he managed to sneak in a little air. It was like sucking

through a cocktail straw. He made his way to shore but didn't feel much

better until emergency medical technicians hooked him up to oxygen. " It

was the closest thing I've had to a near-death experience, " he said.

Unlike surfers, marine mammals can't seek refuge on land. Last year's red

tide took the lives of at least 88 manatees, some weighing more than a

ton. Hundreds of these massive sea cows have succumbed during outbreaks in

previous years.

Greg Bossart, a veterinarian and pathologist at Harbor Branch

Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, dissected the tissue of manatees

and determined that many died from inhaling brevetoxin-laden air just

above the ocean's surface. The result was a cascade of nerve and tissue

damage that filled their lungs with blood.

" The manatees are gassed to death, " Bossart said. " They die of toxic shock. "

Bossart considers the manatee a sentinel for human health, or, as he puts

it: " Florida's 2,000-pound canary. We've opened a Pandora's box of health

issues. "

The oceans are awash in microscopic algae, or plankton. But of the

thousands of different kinds, only about 100 produce toxins.

About 60,000 people in the United States are poisoned each year by algae

blooms. Most get sick by eating fish and shellfish that concentrate

neurotoxins from the vast quantities of algae they consume.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 2% to

10% of all cases are reported to health authorities — usually those that

involve numbness, paralysis, coma or other severe symptoms. Cases of

nausea, cramping and diarrhea tend to go unreported.

Estimates of algae-related illness don't include the many thousands of

people in Florida and other Gulf Coast states who suffer from inhaling

airborne brevetoxin.

Nearly every coastal region has outbreaks of harmful algae or bacteria.

For the second summer in a row, shellfish beds in New England are being

closed because of toxic algae that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning.

These blooms that typically begin in the Gulf of Maine were rare until the

1970s. Now, they appear almost every year, often spreading down the coast

as far as Cape Cod.

California and other West Coast states periodically have banned shellfish

harvesting because of toxic algae, including Pseudo-nitzschia, which

wasn't identified until 1987. That was when it killed three people who ate

contaminated mussels in Montreal. Since then, it has left California's

coastline littered with dead and dying marine mammals and seabirds.

Marine biotoxins are among the most potent biological poisons ever

discovered. Saxitoxin, which causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, is

listed among chemical agents banned under a United Nations compact on

weapons of mass destruction. As with other algae-produced neurotoxins,

there is no known antidote.

People help spread harmful algae by fertilizing them with sewage and farm

runoff, transporting them in the ballast water of ships, dredging harbors

or warming seawater through climate change.

M. Glibert, a marine scientist at the University of land, has

found that the worldwide spread of paralytic shellfish poisoning has

closely tracked the expanding use of urea, a nitrogen fertilizer.

Glibert estimated that fertilizer use will rise 50% this decade " in parts

of the world that are already saturated with nitrogen and frequently

plagued by harmful blooms. "

and colleagues at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in

Massachusetts traced the origin of a strain of algae responsible for a

1998 outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning on France's Mediterranean

coast. Analyzing DNA and shipping records, they concluded that it hitched

a ride from Japan in the belly of a ship.

Disturbance of the seafloor by dredging is believed to help promote the

growth of algae that cause ciguatera fish poisoning. About a million

people a year show signs of ciguatera poisoning — such as gastrointestinal

distress, numbness, weakness, vertigo and coma — after eating fish from

tropical waters.

Cruise ship passengers who ate raw oysters from Alaskan shellfish beds

became violently ill two years ago in an outbreak that medical researchers

tied to the bacterial pathogen Vibrio, common in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers realized the strain had moved 600 miles farther north than

ever before, as Alaskan waters warmed above the 59-degree threshold that

limited the bacterium's range.

A University of Miami marine biologist, Larry E. Brand, examined water

samples dating to 1954 and found that outbreaks of ia brevis off

Florida's Gulf Coast are getting stronger, lasting longer and spreading

farther.

" When you look at it statistically, red tides are 10 times more abundant

than they were 50 years ago, " Brand said. Once, " the peak time was in the

fall…. Now we have blooms continuing on and lasting into the winter and

spring. "

The highest concentrations of algae, he said, were along heavily developed

shorelines and around the mouths of rivers that disgorge nutrient-laden

waters from sugar-cane fields and sediment from phosphate mines.

Brand said that was no coincidence. It reflects " a huge increase in

sewage, runoff from lawns and golf courses, mining and agriculture, " he

said.

State officials say Brand may be misinterpreting the water samples.

Heil, a senior state scientist, said the data do not support the

conclusion that pollution from agriculture or development spawns red

tides, although she said it may intensify or prolong the outbreaks.

Heil said there is compelling evidence of blooms that originate out at

sea, far from coastal concentrations of man-made pollutants.

She and a team of university scientists in Florida have published a study

theorizing that iron-rich dust from Africa's Sahara Desert drifts across

the Atlantic and triggers a natural process that stimulates harmful algae

blooms off Florida's Gulf Coast.

" The timing sure matches up with blooms, " Heil said. " We know it has to

contribute to enriching seawater with iron and nitrogen. "

A television suspended from the ceiling at Mote Marine Laboratory in

Sarasota plays a public service announcement sponsored by state and

federal agencies, offering hints for dealing with red tide.

" If you are going to the beach for a short trip, go to your local

drugstore and buy a face mask, like the ones painters wear, " the narrator

says. " But remember, these masks are only effective for a short time.

" People with asthma should also be sure to take their inhalers to the

beach and use them as prescribed. If your inhaler is not providing relief,

seek immediate medical attention. "

Tourist officials point out that red tides come and go and vary in

intensity, and that the airborne toxins don't trigger health problems

unless there is an onshore breeze. Beachgoers on one stretch of coast can

get a heavy dose, while others a few miles away aren't affected.

Last fall's red tide was one of the worst on record.

Tourists bailed out of hotels and motels, said Dianne Manspeaker, manager

of the Gulf Surf Resort Motel in Nokomis. " People come to check in and

say, 'I can't stay here, I can't breathe.' "

Manspeaker is sympathetic to tourists who feel ill and refunds their

money. She lives inland, and when the wind blows brevetoxin onshore, she

stays home and tends to business by phone. " If I have to be here, " she

said, " I wear a mask. "

A few miles up the coast, Sarasota County lifeguard Mike Zanane listened

to a familiar chorus of coughs, throat-clearing, sneezes and nose-blowing

from hundreds of beachgoers.

It was a typical day at the beach during red tide, Zanane said. The

die-hards lie in the sun and cough all day. They won't leave. Nor will

they venture into the surf, and Zanane doesn't blame them.

" Sometimes, " he said, " you go out there and you feel like you've been Maced. "

Red tides have become a staple of the daily reports on surf conditions

posted on the lifeguard tower. The sign read: " Some Red Tide = Coughs.

Sneezes. Dead Fishes. " A few extra words were scribbled in chalk in the

margin: " Can't do anything about [it]. "

Not that people haven't tried.

In one experiment, researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory sprayed a

slurry of clay onto the murky water in an effort to smother and sink the

offending organisms. Another experiment in the works would sterilize algae

patches with injections of ozone. Such remedies can be problematic. Not

only do they kill the harmful algae, they wipe out every living thing in

the vicinity.

Jim , a past mayor of Longboat Key next to Sarasota, would have

been satisfied just to rid the beach of the stench of dead fish.

A retired Army general, took the fight to the fish. He hired a

boat and crew and set out to chop up the carcasses with a fish shredder

before they could reach the shore.

The results were disappointing for and his nonprofit group,

Solutions To Avoid Red Tide. Instead of whole fish, Longboat Key was

littered with decaying fish chunks.

Buddy Gaines invited a visitor to look out at the Gulf of Mexico from his

oceanfront house built on stilts on Little Gasparilla Island. " You can see

why we love it here, " the retired filmmaker said. " It's a shame we cannot

go outside. "

Gaines and his wife, Laurie, don't let their dogs — a pair of Hungarian

vizslas — outside either. Not during the bloom of a red tide. It's a

costly lesson the couple learned a couple of years ago.

Their younger dog, Olivia, was a gregarious puppy who loved to frolic in

the sand, splash in the warm surf and follow joggers down the beach.

One morning, after eating a few small fish that had washed up, she arrived

home staggering and stumbling. By the time the Gaineses got her to a vet,

Olivia couldn't see. She was vomiting and convulsing.

" It was heartbreaking to watch, " Laurie Gaines said. " We didn't think she

was going to live. "

Veterinarian Schell didn't know what to make of the symptoms.

" Did she eat rat poison? " the vet asked. " Did she get into antifreeze? "

Schell ran blood tests, looking for West Nile virus and canine distemper.

Finding no clear answers, she sent the couple to a specialist in Tampa.

The next day, local veterinarians treated 16 dogs — all twitching,

vomiting and suffering from seizures. One died.

Buddy and Laurie Gaines embarked on a monthlong odyssey to save Olivia

that took them to clinics, animal hospitals and finally Tufts University's

veterinary school in North Grafton, Mass. The couple camped in the parking

lot in their motor home while Olivia was cared for inside.

" Sometimes I think I'm the biggest fool in the family to have spent

$22,000 on this dog, " said Buddy Gaines, 70, sitting on his couch with

Olivia. " I had to take out a second mortgage. But I don't care. I love

this dog. "

Olivia, now 3 years old, appears fully recovered, except for her incessant

drooling. Veterinarians suspect it's a sign of residual neurological

damage.

A half-mile down the beach, and Leydon were keeping their

dog, a sheltie, inside, along with their son, . The air conditioner

was going full blast.

's bedroom is at the seaward side of the house with a picture

window overlooking the gulf. " I have the best room, " he announced.

It's the best room until the wind begins to blow hard off the ocean. Then

it's the first to get dosed with toxin-laden air, coming through the

cracks and electrical outlets. It leaves a vague metallic taste on the

back of the tongue.

The family has taken to wearing surgical masks on windy red tide nights.

It's not enough to keep from coughing. His parents also move him

into a room on the other side of the house.

has spent nearly his entire life on the island and was among the

first residents to develop symptoms. His most common ailment is a dry

cough, which he says makes him sound like a barking seal.

The airborne irritants have also triggered recurring sinus infections and

asthma. On a few occasions, during intense and prolonged red tides,

has been diagnosed with bronchitis and even pneumonia, which kept

him out of school for more than a month.

The Leydons said they have consulted with specialists and spent thousands

of dollars on tests trying to figure out if something other than red tide

was making their son sick. Doctors couldn't pinpoint anything.

The couple worry about the price their son is paying for their decision to

move to Florida.

" Is is going to have lung scarring and long-term problems? " his

father asked. " I need to know. "

The conversation in the Leydon household focused on two topics, as it

often does during red tide outbreaks. One was where to flee for the

weekend. The other was whether they should move, for good.

" Do we have to sell our house because paradise is killing us? "

Leydon asked.

Times staff writer Usha Lee McFarling contributed to this report.

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(INFOBOX BELOW)

Harmful algae blooms and their consequences

Certain types of microscopic algae, or phytoplankton, produce powerful

toxins that can accumulate in fish and shellfish and then poison marine

life or people who eat these animals. There is no known antidote for the

toxins. Harmful algae blooms are often called red tides, although most do

not turn the ocean red. Here are the toxic blooms common in U.S. waters:

Algae:

andrium, Gymnodinium catenatum and Pyrodinium bahamense

Toxin produced:

Saxitoxin

Human illness:

Paralytic shellfish poisoning

Symptoms:

Tingling, burning, numbness, drowsiness, incoherent speech and, in some

cases, respiratory paralysis that can lead to death.

Affected U.S. regions:

Widespread in U.S., including Alaska, West Coast, New England coast

Transmitting the poison:

Saxitoxin accumulates in mussels, clams, oysters and other shellfish, as

well as in sardines, herring and puffer fish, without harming them. The

toxin can poison seabirds, marine mammals and humans who eat contaminated

fish or shellfish.

*

Algae:

Pseudo-nitzschia

Toxin produced:

Domoic acid

Human illness:

Amnesic shellfish poisoning

Symptoms:

Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, confusion and short-term memory loss.

In severe cases, seizures lead to coma and death.

Affected U.S. regions:

Widespread in U.S., including Alaska, West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of

Maine

Transmitting the poison:

Domoic acid accumulates in clams, mussels, oysters, crabs, anchovies and

sardines. It can sicken or kill seabirds, sea otters, sea lions, dolphins,

whales and humans.

*

Algae:

ia brevis

Toxin produced:

Brevetoxin

Human illness:

Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning

Symptoms:

Numbness of lips, tongue and throat; nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and

headache. Airborne toxins can irritate eyes, nose, throat and cause sinus

infections or other respiratory illnesses.

Affected U.S. regions:

Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Carolinas

Transmitting the poison:

Brevetoxin accumulates in shellfish and sea grasses without harming them,

but it poisons fish, manatees, dolphins, sea turtles and seabirds, as well

as humans who inhale the neurotoxin or eat contaminated seafood.

*

Algae:

Gambierdiscus toxicus

Toxin produced:

Ciguatoxins

Human illness:

Ciguatera fish poisoning

Symptoms:

Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, sweating, tingling or

numbness of fingers and toes, and in severe cases paralysis and death.

Some symptoms can recur for years, including depression.

Affected U.S. regions:

Florida Keys, Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands and

Puerto Rico.

Transmitting the poison:

Ciguatoxin is picked up by smaller algae-eating fish and passed up the

food chain to predators such as barracuda, snapper, jacks, grouper and

kingfish. Although the toxin doesn't appear to harm these fish, it can

sicken people who eat them.

*

Sources: " Harmful Algal Research and Response: A National Environmental

Science Strategy 2005-2015, " Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, Woods

Hole Oceanographic Institution. Graphics reporting by R. Weiss.

Graphic by Raoul Ranoa Los Angeles Times

*

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