Washington Mussels Send Seven to the Hospital

Seven people were hospitalized after consuming mussels harvested from Discovery Bay. In this case it was not a bacteria in the shellfish but an algae named Alexandrium, filtered and retained by the shellfish, which produces deadly neurotoxins. If neurotoxin levels are high enough, shellfish which are consumed cause Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). Cooking does not remove the neurotoxins. In the case of the seven hospitalized one had to be placed on a ventilator. [read article here]

Alexandrium

 

Nutrients in deep sea upwellings flowing into Puget Sound and warming water temperatures from global climate change will likely lead to increasing problems from this deadly form of phytoplankton. Combined with increasing illnesses from Puget Sound shellfish which have filtered and retained vibrio, it appears we have in fact crossed an environmental threshold and are entering into unknown waters.