[Twenty eight cases of ichthyosarcotoxism in children in Madagascar (Toliara)]

Each year from November to April, cases of fish poisoning are reported with variable incidences according to villages disseminated along malagasy coasts. Occasional mass poisonings are often mentioned but precise clinical signs are not described nor published. Several fishes are responsible for these poisonings but only four kinds are often mentioned: shark, tuna, sardine and mackerel. Among children, digestive, cutaneous and neurological signs predominate in a specially polymorphic ciguatoxin clinical schedule. The importance of cardio-vascular or respiratory diseases or high fever may compromise the life prognosis. In the main, the evolution is good after one week. In Toliara hospital, only symptomatic therapy is applied.