Pelagic paralysis

Abstract

Three conditions that may occur after consumption of seafood--puffer fish poisoning, ciguatera, and paralytic shellfish poisoning--are caused by a group of poisons that block voltage-gated sodium channels in myelinated and non-myelinated nerves. The conditions cannot be distinguished clinically and so constitute an entity for which the name pelagic paralysis is proposed. Variations in the clinical features can be accounted for by large differences in the amount of toxin present in the seafood.