July 3, 2015 — Some tasty saltwater fish carry a toxin that you may never have heard of.
And a recent study found that more people in Florida may be getting sick from eating fish contaminated with the toxin than previously thought.
By comparing Florida public health records with survey results from thousands of fishermen, scientists from the University of Florida found that ciguatera fish poisoning, as the condition is called, is significantly underreported in the state.
Before the study was done, the prevailing estimate of ciguatera poisoning was 0.2 cases per 100,000 people per year. The latest work, led by epidemiologist Elizabeth Radke, suggests the cases may be more than 25 times higher.
Statewide, the case frequency may be as high as 5.6 cases per 100,000 people a year. In Miami-Dade County, the researchers put the number at 28 cases per 100,000, and in Monroe County it was 84 per 100,000.
Read the full story at New York Now