Badria Alhatali, Sultan Al Lawatia, Faryal Khamis, Sandeep Kantur, Seif Al-Abri, Vikas Kapil, Jerry Thomas, Rudolph Johnson, Elizabeth I Hamelin, Rebecca M Coleman, Ziad Kazzi
Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) 2022 FebTetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent sodium channel blocker, with significant neurotoxicity, found in marine animals like pufferfish and blue-ringed octopus. The severity of toxicity depends on the amount of toxin ingested and the outcome depends on the time-lapse to appropriate medical care. We report five patients who presented with tetrodotoxin poisoning after consuming fried internal organs of local pufferfish from the coast of Oman. The patients' clinical manifestations were consistent with the expected TTX toxidrome of perioral and generalized paresthesia, weakness of upper and lower extremities, gastrointestinal manifestations, dyspnea, dysarthria, ascending paralysis, hypotension, bradycardia and coma. The severity varied among the patients who recovered completely except one patient who developed a subarachnoid hemorrhage without underlying aneurysms on computed tomography-angiogram. This complication was potentially related to TTX poisoning and has not been previously reported. In addition to standard supportive management, patients with severe illness should potentially receive the intravenous acetylcholinesterase inhibitor neostigmine, and intermittent dialysis. Urine specimens were sent to CDC in Atlanta, where they were analyzed using online solid phase extraction (SPE) with LC-MS/MS and confirmed the diagnosis in all five cases. In general, the patients' clinical manifestations were consistent with the expected TTX toxidrome except patient 3 who developed a subarachnoid hemorrhage early during his clinical course. Two patients received neostigmine and underwent dialysis with complete recovery.
Badria Alhatali, Sultan Al Lawatia, Faryal Khamis, Sandeep Kantur, Seif Al-Abri, Vikas Kapil, Jerry Thomas, Rudolph Johnson, Elizabeth I Hamelin, Rebecca M Coleman, Ziad Kazzi. A cluster of tetrodotoxin poisoning in Oman. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 2022 Feb;60(2):262-266
PMID: 33913398
View Full Text