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Vertebrates , Scombroid fish

المؤلف:  Sue Jickells , Adam Negrusz (Editors)

المصدر:  Clarkes Analytical Forensic Toxicology

الجزء والصفحة:  127

2026-10-01

11

Vertebrates

Scombroid fish

Scombrotoxin poisoning is the most commonly reported fish poisoning and occurs in many parts of the world. Scombrotoxin is formed in improperly stored fish, and its name derives from the type of fish in which it was described originally. Scombroid fish (Scombridae) are dark fleshed migratory species, such as mackerel and tuna. Cases of poisoning have also been described after ingestion of non-scombroid species, such as herring, sardines and salmon. Scombrotoxin is generally thought to be identical to histamine. The flesh of scombroid fish has a high histidine content, which is readily decarboxylated to histamine by enteric bacteria (Proteus morgani, P. vulgaris, Clostridium spp., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp.) when stored for as little as 2–3 hours at temperatures above 20C. However, other amines such as saurine may also be involved. Prolonged cooking does not effectively destroy scombro toxin and therefore it may also be present in canned products.

Clinical manifestations of the disease occur rapidly (10–30 min) after ingestion, and include acute gastrointestinal symptoms (vomiting, cramps, diarrhoea) associated with erythema, urticarial patches and oedema. The disease is distressing, but seldom, if ever, fatal and recovery is spontaneous within 24 hours. Treat ment with intravenous cimetidine resolves most symptoms very quickly. In suspect fish samples, histamine concentrations can be measured with standard methods for the analysis of histamine in food (Grant 1997; Trevino 1998; Clark et al. 1999). The Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) official method for histidine utilises ion exchange clean-up, derivatisation with o-phthaldialdehyde and fluorimetric measure ment. Several immunoassay test kits are available for determining histamine in fish and have been compared by Rogers and Staruszkiewicz (2000).