Months Of SW Florida Red Tide Sparks Respiratory Epidemic

[hatrack]

SARASOTA, Fla. -- "A massive red tide off the beaches of southwest Florida is causing an outbreak of wheezing and coughing among beachgoers, and new evidence suggests that the effects of an airborne neurotoxin the tide produces may be more harmful than health officials previously thought.

Since early January, a large algae bloom stretching from the mouth of Tampa Bay to Sanibel Island has been releasing into the air odorless toxins that waft onto beaches with every onshore wind. Red tide occurs nearly every year, but this year's bloom is unusually persistent, parking itself in coastal waters and failing to dissipate. Calls about the toxins have poured into hospitals, doctors' offices, and poison control centers, and some doctors say the current algae bloom is producing more reports of health difficulties than any other red tide they can remember. ''It's awful -- you choke," said Anne Ouellette, from Brewster, Mass., who was visiting Lido Beach in Sarasota last week with her husband, Lew. ''As soon as we got here we started to cough."

Florida tourism officials have long downplayed the human respiratory effects of red tide, in part because exposure depends on shifting winds and the toxins affect some people differently than others. But some results from a five-year, $6.5 million federally funded series of studies by scientists and health officials being published next month show for the first time that the events may be causing significant health problems. During a three-month 2001 red tide event examined in the study, Sarasota Memorial Hospital's emergency room admissions for respiratory problems were 54 percent higher for people living along or visiting the coast than during the same time period the next year, when there was no red tide. There was no similar spike inland.

The study also documents that beachgoers with chronic respiratory problems have reduced lung capacity after even a short exposure to red tide, although it's unclear how long the problems last."

EDIT

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/28/tides_toxins_trouble_lungs_ashore/

[rkc3]

1. Hey hatrack, thanks for the post.

Thanks for sharing the most interesting info.

I'm heading to Naples in two weeks - at least I'll know why I'm sick.

[hatrack]

2. Just try not to breathe when you go to the beach . . .

:hi:

[ixion]

3. I live near the beach in Sarasota, and it's been miserable

going to the beach has meant hacking coughs and burning eyes. When it rains the burning it causes in your eyes is very painful -- equivalent to swimming in an heavily-chlorinated pool.

I thought the red tide had dissipated, but I guess not. :-(