Have you ever gotten sick in Mexico?

[DandyDon]

I never said Ciguatera was from food hygiene or cold or hot buffets. Please reread my post. I said it was much worse than poor food hygiene.

Ciguatera poisoning comes from the neurotoxins produced by microorganisms such as dinoflagellates that accumulate in molluscs and ultimately end up concentrated in the flesh of larger predatory fish such as black grouper and barracuda.

Most reported group cases are of seaman getting hungry and shooting a few big pelagic fish when they are out to sea. The symptoms are extreme fatigue, nausea, paraesthesia, and in the case I mentioned, skin rash and swelling. It eventually goes away but there can be long-term neurological damage.

It is not a problem for most local restaurants because over the years they know what fish to avoid and don't serve them.

I have seen deck hands cut open freshly caught barracuda to find the liver, to which they touch a finger, and then touch the finger to their tongue. They told me that if it tastes peppery, the fish is bad to eat. As best I can tell from their broken English and my even worse Español, it has to do with what the barracuda had been eating.

Says in this report - http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap36.html that it starts with the algae, then accumulates in the predators if they have been eating animals that had been eating the algae. If the cuda, grouper, whatever had been consuming fish that had been eating plankton, they'd be cleaner of the poison. The cuda's liver could have a concentration of the poison - enough to actually taste perhaps, as the liver does a lot of filtering.

 

[crispos]

Says in this report - http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap36.html that it starts with the algae, then accumulates in the predators if they have been eating animals that had been eating the algae. If the cuda, grouper, whatever had been consuming fish that had been eating plankton, they'd be cleaner of the poison. The cuda's liver could have a concentration of the poison - enough to actually taste perhaps, as the liver does a lot of filtering.

Thanks for repeating what we already have said, Don.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks for repeating what we already have said, Don.

Reckon I'm too occupied with details...? :jestera:

Ciguatera poisoning comes from the neurotoxins produced by microorganisms such as dinoflagellates that accumulate in molluscs and ultimately end up concentrated in the flesh of larger predatory fish such as black grouper and barracuda.

This doesn't have any real bearing on the price of beans, but I don't think that "molluscs" have anything to do with it. Algae produces the toxin, algae eating fish accumulate it - mostly around reefs I would guess, and predators that eat them concentrate it further.

Most reported group cases are of seaman getting hungry and shooting a few big pelagic fish when they are out to sea. The symptoms are extreme fatigue, nausea, paraesthesia, and in the case I mentioned, skin rash and swelling. It eventually goes away but there can be long-term neurological damage.

Many large predator "pelagic* fish" are safe to eat - depending on what they have been eating - algae eating fish or krill eating fish.

* pe·lag·ic adj. Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters: pelagic birds.

So, while there was an illusion that I had said the same thing, in my mind - it seemed different. The new question in my mind is: "Wouldn't pelagics be safe to eat, or are their food fish getting more algae on the open ocean than I'm thinking?

Do keep in mind that while I have seen a couple of oceans, and been in them, I am a desert rat, so (a) cut me some slack, please, and (b) help me understand.

thanks, don
:blah:

 

[glimmerel]

I ate at all the taco stands and fruit stalls in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, Cancun and Cozumel (heh!Heh! see my food report posted tonight) and drank frozen drinks as well as local fruit drinks (like the water and tamarind stuff) without getting sick. I did drink bottled water.

 

[Maya]

Sorry Crispos..I mis-read your post. I had a severe case of ciguatera several years ago from fish which my husband and I shot in the Dry Tortugas. I still get the "tinglies" sometimes after eating warm water fish, especially grouper - maybe that's in my head, but I don't think so. The culprit fish in my case of cig was very large grouper and very large hogs.

 

[crispos]

Sorry Crispos..I mis-read your post. I had a severe case of ciguatera several years ago from fish which my husband and I shot in the Dry Tortugas. I still get the "tinglies" sometimes after eating warm water fish, especially grouper - maybe that's in my head, but I don't think so. The culprit fish in my case of cig was very large grouper and very large hogs.

No worries, Maya. Sorry to hear of your case. But good it has basically gone away. You cave divers can take anything, anyways. :mermaid:

 

[ScubaBride]

Actually I arrived sick, then dove and aspirated some salt water, which found me with 104+ temp and hallucinating during the night...went to the mexican clinic...not the american one...a few liters of NS, a shot in the butt, some homemade mayan chicken soup, and a days rest in the hammock...started diving 48 hrs later

 

[cowprintrabbit]

We ate in all kinds of little places in Playa del Carmen and were fine, then got horribly sick eating hamburgers by the pool at our all-inclusive resort. I noticed too late that the raw patties had been sitting out in the sun, for who knows how many hours, not on ice before they were cooked to order...

 

[glbirch]

Need more options in the poll. My wife and I have been to Mexico four times. Eat at everything from large restaurants to little tacarias and street vendors. We've never needed Imodium, but I was pretty sick for a couple of days the second visit and in dire need of a laxative. Ya know, it ain't easy to find that stuff some places in Mexico.

On the flip side, one of my friends on his first visit was paranoid about the food and water, but still ended up chewing Imodium like smarties the last few days, and had to be brought off the plane in a wheelchair when we got home.

 

[Hawkeye Mark]

I was in Cozumel for a week and this is the first time in five trips that I didnt get sick or Montezuma came looking for me.