Toledo Researchers Look into Impact of Toxic Algae

Medical professionals have no way to diagnose people who become ill from ingesting western Lake Erie’s chief algal toxin or making body contact with it — but the University of Toledo Medical Center hopes to change that.

Algal bloom in Lake Erie, source: Wikimedia Commons

UTMC, formerly the Medical College of Ohio hospital, is working with Wayne State University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a scientific method to diagnose the toxin, which attacks primarily the liver.

“In this case, we’re dealing with some very interesting scientific questions that could be recognized nationally,” Frank Calzonetti, UT vice president of research, said of the cutting-edge research, which involves about two dozen experts from multiple disciplines.

The ability to diagnosis is a necessary first step to ultimately find out what — if anything — exposure to low-level algal toxins over a person’s lifetime means to public health, according to David Kennedy, a UT assistant professor of medicine, and Jason Huntley, an associate professor and bacteria specialist in UT’s medical microbiology and immunology department.

“Water is a thing that cuts across political spectrums. Everyone needs it,” Mr. Kennedy said. “It’s unfortunate we have to measure toxins in people because they shouldn’t be there in the first place.”

Steven Haller, a UT assistant professor of medicine who specializes in kidney research, said studies won’t be limited to the liver.

One of the burning questions is whether people exposed to low-level toxins over several decades are more susceptible to liver failure, liver cancer, or other conditions, and what happens as society becomes more reliant on chemicals used to remove toxins.

The project offers “a tangible way to help” while also offering UT students a chance to be among the next generation of scientists specializing in an issue with a global reach, Mr. Kennedy said.

“No one wants to grow up in a place with such a beautiful asset Lake Erie but you’re afraid of it,” Mr. Kennedy said. “If you have the tools to help, you want to do that.”

Read full article: Toledo Blade

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Taxonomy

• Public Health
• Decontamination
• Contaminant Removal
• Ecosystem Management
• Algae
• Pollution
• Lake Management
• Pollution