[Risk to human health associated with marine toxic algae]
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Updated: Sep 25, 2026

A Standardized Procedure for Monitoring Harmful Algal Blooms in Chile by Metabarcoding Analysis
Published on: August 26, 2021
Paola Ade1, Enzo Funari, Roberto Poletti
1Laboratorio di Igiene Ambientale, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma.
Abstract:
Among the about 5000 of marine algal species, some 75 produce algal toxins. These latter mainly belong to the taxa first of dynoflagellates and then diatomes. The so far known human intoxications have been associated with mollusc consumption. The main poisoning syndromes have been termed, on the basis of the observed symptoms, as paralytic, diarrhetic, neurotoxic and amnesic and shorthened as: PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning), DSP (diarrhetic shellfish poisoning), NSP (neurotoxic shellfish poisoning), ASP (amnesic shellfish poisoning), respectively. This paper is a review of the problem of human health implications associated with marine toxic algae, with particular reference to the situation of the Mediterranean and the Italian coastal areas.
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