Vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen, transmitted from seawater, raw oyster, and shellfish and responsible for severe septicemia. We studied V. vulnificus from surface seawater around Jeju Island between 2010 and 2011. In 2010, V. vulnificus was isolated and V. vulnificus septicemia was reported. Surface seawater temperature is an important factor for growth of V. vulnificus, and here we showed that high surface seawater temperature may influence growth of V. vulnificus and occurrence of emerging V. vulnificus septicemia on Jeju Island. This is the first report of isolation of V. vulnificus and emerging V. vulnificus septicemia on Jeju Island.
Humans ; Ostreidae ; Seawater* ; Sepsis* ; Shellfish ; Vibrio vulnificus*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a mercury database for food commonly consumed by Koreans. METHODS: Target foods for a mercury database were selected from dietary survey data of the 2007-2009 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Data for mercury contents of foods were collected through literature review. Among 702 food items reported by 24 hr dietary recall method, the contents of mercury for 300 food items were selected with systematic evaluation from the literature, which provided analytical values, and those of 56 food items were imputed by using a conversion factor. RESULTS: The mercury database developed in this study covered 50.7% of all kinds of consumed foods and 95.1% of total amount of food intake reported by 2007-2009 KNHANES. In the database, the geometric mean of mercury contents in food items was the highest in the fishes and shellfishes group (41.13 microg/kg, n = 101) followed by mushrooms (18.93 microg/kg, n = 12) and seaweeds (5.92 microg/kg, n = 14), and the lowest in the meats group (0.15 microg/kg, n = 17). CONCLUSION: The developed mercury database can be used to estimate the dietary mercury exposure of Korean people, and the method for development of a mercury database would be helpful to researchers in development of a new database for other food borne hazardous substances.
Agaricales ; Eating ; Fishes ; Hazardous Substances ; Meat ; Nutrition Surveys ; Shellfish

This study was undertaken to observe the difference of patch test and prick test positive reactions in three groups, 20 atopic dermatitis patients, 20 chronic urticaria patients, and 20 normal controls, Twenty commercial antigens (ToriiCo.) and twenty three frozen and boiled antigens of fishes and shellfishes were used as test materials. The results were as follows: 1. No positive reaction was observed in all sixty subjects in patch test. 2 In prick test, difference in reactivity was observed among atopic dermatitis (14. 7%), chronic urticaria (8.7%), and normal control(1. 5%) 3. There was significant difference in reactivity between Torii and frozen antigens in atopic dermatitis group, but no significance in chronic urticaria and control groups. 4. Boiling altered the reactivity in tested materials in all three groups of subjects singificantly. 5. Patients with past or family history of allergic diseases showed double fold higher reactivity tban patients without any history.
Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Fishes ; Humans ; Patch Tests ; Shellfish* ; Urticaria*

This study was conducted to investigate the vibrio flora in edible shellfish (Ruditapes philippinarum, Scapharca broughtonii, Batillus cornutus and Mytilus coruscus) which were purchased from seafood-market or collected from shellfish culture bed in Pusan and Masan Bay from May to October 1997. Sixty-three vibrio strains were identified among 438 collected strains. Five species of vibrios [V. alginolyticus (22 strains), V. parahaemolyticus (35 strains), V. costicola (2 strains), L. damsela (V. damsela 2 strains), and V. cholerae non-Ol (2 strains)] were identified by their phenotyfic and biochemical characteristics. Four groups (142 strains) were identified as genus Vibrio by their biological characteristics, but they could not be identified to the species level.
Bays ; Busan ; Cholera ; Mytilus ; Population Characteristics ; Scapharca ; Shellfish* ; Vibrio*

Paralytic shellfish poisoning results from consumption of mollusks that have fed on dinoflagellates capable of producing neurotoxins such as saxitoxin. The saxitoxin is concentrated in the shellfish and acts by decreasing sodium-channel permeability, thereby blocking neuronal transmission in skeletal muscles. Symptoms including paresthesia, perioral numbness, perioral tingling, nausea, vomiting, extremity numbness, extremity tingling, dizziness, ataxia, dysphagia, and weakness have been reported. In serious cases, respiratory hold may occur up to 6~24 hours after ingestion. Generally, the treatment for paralytic shellfish poisoning is supportive care, but mechanical ventilation is needed in serious cases acompanied by respiratory hold. We experienced two cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning. Respiratory hold was presented in one case and only mild paresthesia in the other case. After supportive management, including mechanical ventilation in former case, both patients were discharged without sequalae.
Ataxia ; Deglutition Disorders ; Dinoflagellida ; Dizziness ; Eating ; Extremities ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Mollusca ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Nausea ; Neurons ; Neurotoxins ; Paresthesia ; Permeability ; Respiration, Artificial ; Saxitoxin* ; Shellfish ; Shellfish Poisoning* ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between acute diarrheal disease and causative seafood. METHODS: This study was done retrospectively by investigating age, sex, symptoms, and causative seafoods in 140 patients. Correlating symptoms were vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, and bloody diarrhea. Causative seafood were crab, spiny lobster, pickles, sliced raw fish, and shellfish. All patients was seen at our hospital between September and November in two consecutive years, 2000 and 2001. RESULTS: An characteristic of seafood related food poisoning was an age of 30 or older. The major cause of seafood related food poisoning was crab. The most common symptom of seafood related food poisoning was abdominal pain. Symptom of crab relate food poisoning was most severe. CONCLUSION: Further studies are recommended to document an epidemiology and bacteriologic analysis of seafood related food poisoning in Chungnam-Taeangun.
Abdominal Pain ; Diarrhea ; Epidemiology ; Fever ; Foodborne Diseases ; Humans ; Korea* ; Palinuridae ; Retrospective Studies ; Seafood* ; Shellfish ; Vomiting

Vibrio vulnificus primary septicemia is a serious illness associated with high mortality rates and is caused by the ingestion of raw or undercooked shellfish. Most patients admitted with V. vulnificus infection are immunocompromised or have an underlying disease, such as liver cirrhosis or hemochromatosis. In contrast, the authors experienced an uncommon case in which a patient with no known underlying disease rapidly progressed to sepsis with hypotensive shock, followed by death within a few hours. Based on a postmortem examination, tissue cultures, and blood cultures, it was determined that the patient had been infected with V. vulnificus and had chronic liver disease. There are no reports in Korea on the clinicopathological findings of V. vulnificus infection. Here, we present the case of a patient with V. vulnificus septicemia and describe the associated clinical symptoms and clinicopathological findings discovered upon autopsy.
Autopsy ; Eating ; Hemochromatosis ; Humans ; Korea ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Sepsis ; Shellfish ; Shock ; Vibrio ; Vibrio vulnificus

OBJECTIVETo develop an ICR (female) mouse bioassay (MBA) for toxicity confirmation and evaluation of neurotoxins (brevetoxins)-contaminated shellfish.

METHODSBrevetoxins (BTX-B) as a causative agent of neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) under different shellfish matrices were intraperitoneally injected at different doses into mice to study their toxic effects and to differentiate the range of lethal and sublethal dosages. Their sensitivity and specificity were analyzed with 2 competitive ELISA kits for quantitative determination of standard BTX-B and dihydroBTX-B under different shellfish matrix-diluent combinations. Detection rates of MBA and two antibody-based assays for BTX-B from field NSP-positive shellfish samples were compared.

RESULTSBTX-B could be detected in shellfish tissues at concentration of 50-400 μg/100 g under shellfish matrix-Tween-saline media, which were appropriate to identify toxic shellfish at or above the regulatory limit (80 μg/100 g shellfish tissues). The LD50 identified was 455 mg/kg for BTX-B under general shellfish matrices (excluding oyster matrices) dissolved in Tween-saline. The presence of shellfish matrices, of oyster matrices in particular, retarded the occurrence of death and toxicity presentation in mice. Two antibody-based assays, even in the presence of different shellfish matrix-diluent combinations, showed acceptable results in quantifying BTX-B and dihydroBTX-B well below the regulatory limit.

CONCLUSIONThe two ELISA analyses agree favorably (correlation coefficient, r³⋝0.96; Student's t-tests, P>0.05) with the developed bioassay.

Animals ; Biological Assay ; Calibration ; Female ; Marine Toxins ; toxicity ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Oxocins ; toxicity ; Shellfish ; analysis

DNA barcoding has been widely used in species identification and biodiversity research. A short fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence serves as a DNA bio-barcode. We collected DNA barcodes, based on COI sequences from 156 species (529 sequences) of fish, insects, and shellfish. We present results on phylogenetic relationships to assess biodiversity the in the Korean peninsula. Average GC% contents of the 68 fish species (46.9%), the 59 shellfish species (38.0%), and the 29 insect species (33.2%) are reported. Using the Kimura 2 parameter in all possible pairwise comparisons, the average interspecific distances were compared with the average intraspecific distances in fish (3.22 vs. 0.41), insects (2.06 vs. 0.25), and shellfish (3.58 vs. 0.14). Our results confirm that distance-based DNA barcoding provides sufficient information to identify and delineate fish, insect, and shellfish species by means of all possible pairwise comparisons. These results also confirm that the development of an effective molecular barcode identification system is possible. All DNA barcode sequences collected from our study will be useful for the interpretation of species-level identification and community-level patterns in fish, insects, and shellfish in Korea, although at the species level, the rate of correct identification in a diversified environment might be low.
Biodiversity ; DNA ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; Insects ; Korea ; Shellfish

This study was conducted to examine the levels of total and organic mercury in the scalp hair of the elementary school children and adults, and their relalionship with the consumption pattern of fishes and shellfishes. The scalp hair samples were collected from the occipital part of 115 children and 131 adults in costal, urban and rural areas of kyungpook province from June to August 1991. The mercury content was analysed by the atomic absorption spectrophotometer (model IL. 555)with atomic vapor accessory (model IL. 440). The total and organic mercury contents of hair were significantly higher (P<0.01) among the children who prefer fish and/or shellfish (7.728ppm, 6.610ppm), and canned fish and/or fish pastes (6.969 ppm, 5.885ppm) than those who prefer meat(4.822ppm, 3.905ppm) and vegetables(3.974ppm, 3.224 ppm). The children who prefer to eat the canned fish without cooking showed a higher mercury content than the children who prefer to eat it as stew or mixed with vegetables (P<0.01l). There was a dose-response relationship between the intake frequency of canned fish, raw fish and cooked fish and the content of total and organic mercury of hair; the children who eat fish almost everyday showed 2 times higher than those who eat rarely (P<0.0l). The mercury content in the hair of the children who eat raw fish was significantly higher than that of the children who eat boiled or broiled fish (P<0.01). The total and organic mercury contents of adult scalp hair increased with age up to the forties and slightly decreased in the fifties. The mercury contents of those who were engaged in the fishery and raw fish restaurant were 2 times higher than those of the farmers. The mercury content of the persons who were favorite dishes of fish and shellfish were most high, and who prefer raw fish were 2 times higher than those of the persons who prefer vegetables and broiled fish. The contents of total and organic mercury in adult scalp hair showed also a increasing tendency with the intake frequency of raw and cooked fish.
Absorption ; Adult ; Child ; Cooking ; Fisheries ; Fishes* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hair* ; Humans ; Ointments ; Restaurants ; Scalp* ; Shellfish* ; Vegetables