Abstract
Background
Since 2011, there have been ongoing massive unexplained increases of sargassum seaweed strandings along the coastlines of Caribbean countries. The objective of our study was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients exposed to noxious emissions of decomposing sargassum seaweed.
Methods
This observational study included patients from January 2018 to December 2018 for complaints attributed to decomposing sargassum seaweed. History and geographical characteristics of sargassum seaweed strandings as well as detection of ambient air hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels were documented during the inclusion period.
Findings
A total of 154 patients were included. Mean exposure period was 3 months. Neurological (80%), digestive (77%) and respiratory (69%) disorders were the most frequent reasons for medical visit. Temporal distribution of medical visits was related to history of strandings. Geographical origins of patients were consistent with the most impacted areas of strandings as well as the most elevated ambient air H2S levels.
Interpretation
The toxicological syndrome induced by sargassum seaweed exposure is close to the toxidrome associated with acute H2S exposure in the range of 0–10 ppm. Our study suggests that patients living in massive stranding areas may be exposed to H2S > 5 ppm for 50 days per year.
Author contributions
Dabor Resiere (DR); Hossein Mehdaoui (HM); Jonathan Florentin (JF); Papa Gueye (PG); Thierry Lebrun (TL); Alain Blateau (AB); Jerome Viguier (JV); Ruddy Valentino (RV); Yannick Brouste (YB); Bruno megarbane (BM); André Cabie(AC); Rishika banydeen (RB); Remi Neviere (RN)
RN wrote the manuscript with support from RB, DR and HM.
DR, HM, RB, RN contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study
DB, HM, JF, PG, TL, AB, JV, RV, YB contributed substantially to the acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation.
RB and HM performed statistical analyses.
BM and AC contributed substantially to the interpretation of the data.
All authors drafted or provided critical revision of the article.
All authors provided final approval of the version to publish.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors acknowledge no financial interest or benefit that has arisen from the direct applications of the present research.
Part of the present work has been previously published as a congress abstract at the 2020 congress of the French Intensive Care Society (Réanimation 2020, the French Intensive Care Society International Congress). The abstract was published (abstract number F-66) in the congress’s proceedings in the Annals of Intensive Care journal (Resiere et al. Ann Intensive Care. 2020; 10 (Suppl 1); 16-F066).