[Ten cases of Ciguatera fish poisoning in Yucatan].

BACKGROUND: Ciguatera fish poisoning is a clinical syndrome associated with the consumption of contaminated fish. The clinical picture is a constellation of gastrointestinal, neurologic and cardiovascular symptoms.

AIM: To report 10 cases of ciguatera poisoning in our country.

METHOD: We recorded the clinical course during the severe acute symptoms with a follow up of 34 months.

RESULTS: The time between the ingestion of contaminated fish and symptoms varied from 20 minutes to 12 hours. All suffered gastrointestinal disturbances as the main manifestation. Watery diarrhea was the earliest complaint. Cold-to-hot temperature reversal dysesthesia occurred in all but there were differences in the occurrence of nausea, vomiting, cramping, abdominal pain, weakness, paresthesia, arthralgia, myalgia, dizziness, dysuria, dyspnea, headache, pruritus, lip numbness, dry mouth, dental pain, chills, tremors, fasciculations, blurred vision, hypersalivation and dysphagia.

CONCLUSION: 1. There were some differences in the clinical picture of our cases mainly in the initial symptoms and their severity. 2. Gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common complaint. 3. We did not find associations between the amount of toxic fish ingested with the latency period and the severity and duration of the symptoms.