Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Sep;44(7):583-7.
doi: 10.1080/02770900701539251.

Reported respiratory symptom intensity in asthmatics during exposure to aerosolized Florida red tide toxins

Alexyz Milian  1 , Kate Nierenberg, Lora E Fleming, Judy A Bean, Adam Wanner, Andrew Reich, Lorraine C Backer, David Jayroe, Barbara Kirkpatrick
Affiliations

Reported respiratory symptom intensity in asthmatics during exposure to aerosolized Florida red tide toxins

Alexyz Milian et al. J Asthma. 2007 Sep.

Abstract

Florida red tides are naturally occurring blooms of the marine dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis. K. brevis produces natural toxins called brevetoxins. Brevetoxins become part of the marine aerosol as the fragile, unarmored cells are broken up by wave action. Inhalation of the aerosolized toxin results in upper and lower airway irritation. Symptoms of brevetoxin inhalation include: eye, nose, and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Asthmatics appear to be more sensitive to the effects of inhaled brevetoxin. This study examined data from 97 asthmatics exposed at the beach for 1 hour during K. brevis blooms, and on separate occasions when no bloom was present. In conjunction with extensive environmental monitoring, participants were evaluated utilizing questionnaires and pulmonary function testing before and after a 1-hour beach walk. A modified Likert scale was incorporated into the questionnaire to create respiratory symptom intensity scores for each individual pre- and post-beach walk. Exposure to Florida red tide significantly increased the reported intensity of respiratory symptoms; no significant changes were seen during an unexposed period. This is the first study to examine the intensity of reported respiratory symptoms in asthmatics after a 1-hour exposure to Florida red tide.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Respiratory symptom intensity score pre- and post-beach walk: All participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Respiratory symptom intensity score pre- and post-beach walk: Inland participants.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Respiratory symptom intensity score pre- and post-beach walk: Coastal participants.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Respiratory symptom intensity score and medication use: During a Florida Red Tide exposure period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Van Dolah FM. Marine Algal Toxins: origins, health effects, and their increased occurrence. Environ Health Perspect. 2000;108(1):133–141. - PMC - PubMed
    1. MacLean HL. Indo Pacific red tides. Toxic dinoflagellate blooms. Proceedings of the second International Conference on Toxic Dinoflagellate Blooms; Key Biscayne, FL. North Holland: Elsevier; 1979. pp. 173–178.
    1. Kirkpatrick B, Fleming LE, Squicciarini D, Backer LC, Clark R, Abraham W, Benson J, Cheng YS, Johnson D, Pierce R, Zaias J, Bossart GD, Baden DG. Literature review of Florida red tide: Implications for human health effects. Harmful Algae. 2004;3(2):99–115. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baden DG. Brevetoxins: unique polyether dinoflagellate toxins. FASEB J. 1989;3:1807–1817. - PubMed
    1. Baden DG. Marine food-borne dinoflagellate toxins. Int Rev Cytol. 1983;82:99–150. - PubMed

Publication types