FISH INTOXICATION. NOTES ON CIGUATERA, ITS MODE OF ACTION AND A SUGGESTED THERAPY

Certain characteristics of the toxin causing ciguatera are reviewed, and it has been pointed out that there is no method of recognizing specific fish which may bear the toxin, nor of detecting the toxin in a fish except by feeding tests, nor of destroying the toxin by any normal means of food preparation. Some aspects of the pharmacology of the toxin and a possible similarity in action of the toxin to the curariform drugs are discussed. Case histories are presented in which recovery, partial or complete, might be attributed to neostigmine or neostigmine-Tensilon therapy. Chemical and pharmacological studies are reviewed which show similarities between the toxin found in a barracuda from Guam and red snappers from the Line Islands.