Human fatality in Timor Leste after eating the xanthid crab, Zosimus aeneus

Sodium channel and saxiphilin radioreceptor assays were carried out to determine whether paralytic shellfish toxins were present in the gut contents, liver, blood, bile and urine of a male who died in 2000 after consuming a crab, Zosimus aeneus. A second uneaten specimen from the meal was also tested. HPLC analysis of toxin profiles was also carried out on the gut content and urine of the victim, and the uneaten crab specimen.A dose likely to have been consumed by the victim was calculated (between 1 and 2 µg STX equivalents/kg).
To use sodium channel and saxiphilin receptor assays, and confirm the results by HPLC analysis, to identify paralytic shellfish toxins in gut contents, various body fluids and tissues obtained post-mortem from the victim.
Proportions of individual paralytic shellfish toxin profiles (mol% of STX, dcSTX, GTX2, GTX3, NEO) to total toxin content of the samples are given where discernable by HPLC analysis.