FL Red Tide In 4th Month, Has Killed 45 Manatees, Spread Airborne Toxins

[hatrack]

"A toxic algae bloom that has been lingering along the southwest coast of Florida since December has poisoned large numbers of fish, killed as many as 45 endangered manatee and may turn out to be more hazardous to people than previously believed.

EDIT

The algae, called Karenia brevis, produces a poison called a brevetoxin. Though not deadly, it can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in people who eat contaminated fish and asthma-like symptoms in those who breathe in the odorless toxic particles that can blow off the waves up to 1 mile inland. Once a year, the K. brevis population undergoes an explosion for reasons scientists can't explain. The number of the creatures can go from 1,000 in a liter of ocean water to more than 1 million.

"At times you go to the beach and you just open the door of the car in the parking lot and you start coughing," says Barbara Kirkpatrick, a scientist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. Brevetoxin can cause teary eyes, congestion and coughing in healthy people up to 1 mile from shore. Kirkpatrick has found that it's more dangerous to those with asthma and obstructive lung diseases, causing slightly lowered lung capacity.

Still, no warning is generally given to beachgoers when a red tide is present. Florida's West Coast is a popular tourist destination." For a while it was (covering) a good part of southwest Florida. It wasn't like people could drive to another location. It's dissipating now," says Allison Bozarth of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute."

EDIT

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-04-06-red-tide_x.htm

[CottonBear]

1. That is so awful about the manatees.

:cry: