Red Tide Beach Study on Siesta Key Public Beach by Mote Marine Aquarium

By Nadine Slimak

Sarasota, FL - An ongoing study of how humans are affected by red tide toxins will continue with a field study on Siesta Key public beach on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 20-21, 2009. The study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), is unlocking new information about red tide toxins and how they affect humans who live, work and play along Florida's west coast.

As one of the most far-reaching and inclusive studies in the history of red tide research, this collaboration has led to more than 80 reports published in scientific journals that detail new findings concerning everything from the number and kinds of toxins that red tide cells produce, how the toxins change when they're released into air or water when a red tide cell dies and, most importantly, about how these toxins affect humans, including those with underlying health problems, and ways to reduce adverse impacts on public health. The study has already led to new public health guidelines and to several patents for pulmonary therapeutics.

Mote Marine Laboratory and its research partners are in the eighth year of this ongoing study to evaluate the human-health issues surrounding red tide exposure. This portion of the study is taking place during a time when Karenia brevis, the organism that causes Florida's red tide, has been detected alongshore of Sarasota County. Background-to-medium levels have been detected, with the highest levels detected alongshore of Nokomis Beach (as of Dec. 15, 2009). By way of comparison, the red tide levels are hundreds of times lower now than during the 2005-2006 red tide bloom. According to Mote's Beach Conditions ReportTM, no respiratory irritation or fish kills have been reported on Sarasota County beaches (as of noon Dec. 18, 2009).

On the Beach: Tests with Volunteers
During the field study on Sunday and Monday, researchers with Mote and its partner organizations will test volunteers to understand how red tide affects people with asthma. When volunteers arrive at the beach they will be given a spirometry test that measures how well their lungs are functioning. Researchers will also take nasal swabs and samples of breath vapors and volunteers will answer a series of questions. Then volunteers will be given personal air monitors and asked to spend about an hour on the beach. After the hour is up, they're tested again. A small subset will be tested 24 hours after their exposure and all participants will answer follow-up questions over a five-day period. The study is approved by the human subject review boards of the University of Miami and the Florida Department of Health.

On the Beach: Testing for Toxins
At the same time health researchers are focusing on human participants, other scientists will be collecting air and water samples to look for red tide toxins and measure toxin concentrations. This information provides important context for interpreting the results from the human tests. Over the last several years, new technological advances have allowed scientists to detect toxins in ever-smaller numbers. These advances have also led to findings that show how the toxins K. brevis produces change as the cell breaks down or dies. Understanding these differences will allow scientists and health experts a better understanding of which toxins are affecting humans and could lead to more refined health guidelines and potential treatments. In addition to using standard air samplers on the beach, a mobile sampler might also be used. This tool, called "PIPER," is a robotic air sampler designed to mimic the movements of a child 6 to 12 months old. PIPER, which stands for "Pre-toddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robotic" sampler was created to measure children's exposure to indoor particulate matter, such as the dust they come into contact with as they crawl or begin walking. (Note to Media: Whether PIPER arrives in Sarasota for the field tests is dependent upon flight schedules in the winter-afflicted northern states.)

Study Background
This study was launched in 2001 to evaluate the human-health issues surrounding red tide exposure. The $7.53 million project, funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) through 2011, is led by Dr. Daniel G. Baden, director of the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. It includes scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Florida Department of Health, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Medicine, the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, New Mexico, Children's Hospital Medial Center, the University of Cinncinnati, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, and Mount Sinai Medical Center (Miami Beach). The study involves collaborations among oceanographers, chemists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, public health specialists, physicians and biomedical scientists to approach the problem in a "beach to bedside" manner — the current model being used by the National Institutes of Health.

Mote Red Tide Research
Mote's participation in this NIEHS-funded human health study marks just one piece of our overall efforts to understand the dynamics of red tide blooms — how they form and when, why and how they persist in the environment and the conditions that lead to a bloom's eventual demise. Some of these efforts, however, have been hampered due to the current economic climate and cuts to research funding. "The funding situation is really unfortunate," says Dr. Richard Pierce, director of Mote's Center for Ecotoxicology. "Over the last three years, Mote has made great strides in the way we monitor for red tide and in what we know about its toxins and how this algae interacts with other algal species in the marine environment. Unfortunately, we've had to pull back on many of these research areas due to funding cuts by the state of Florida. That means we're not able to have the monitoring we need in place to see what conditions are like when red tide blooms form, as they move along the coasts and, finally, as they are terminated. We finally have the tools to answer many of the questions that the public most wants to know, but we don't have the funding to support them. It's kind of like all of a sudden shutting off weather radar as a tropical storm is brewing. You can send scientists out to monitor the storm as it develops, but the automated, continuous, real-time information is missing."

Don't Forget: The Beach Conditions Report
Florida red tides can be very patchy and conditions can vary greatly from one beach to another. How can you find out what beach conditions are like?
In 2006, Mote Marine Laboratory created the Beach Conditions ReportTM to provide the public with information about specific beaches. The Report provides real-time information about the presence of red tide and other conditions at 33 beaches along the Florida Gulf Coast. In addition to online updates provided at www.mote.org/beaches, reports can be e-mailed directly to users who sign up for updates. Visitors or those without Internet access can also call 941-BEACHES for information.

The Beach Conditions ReportTM is updated daily at about 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and includes several types of information:
• Whether there is respiratory irritation among beachgoers
• Whether dead fish are present
• What the water color is, what direction the wind is coming from
• Whether and where red drift algae is present

Florida beaches included in the Beach Conditions ReportTM are:
• Sarasota County: Lido Key, Siesta Key, Nokomis, Venice North Jetty, Venice Beach, Manasota Beach
• Manatee County: Manatee Beach, Coquina Beach
• Pinellas County: Caladesi Island, Fort DeSoto Park
• Lee County: Bowditch Point Park, Lynn Hall Beach Park, Lovers Key State Park, Bonita Beach, Tarpon Bay Beach, Lighthouse Point, Newton Park and Little Estero Island/Holiday Inn
• Collier County: Barefoot Beach, Vanderbilt Beach, Seagate Beach, Lowdermilk Park, Naples Pier, Tigertail Beach, South Marco Beach
• Escambia County: Pensacola Beach
• Okaloosa County: Fort Walton Beach, Henderson Beach State Park and Destin Beach
• Gulf County: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, both Gulfside and Bayside
• Franklin County: St. George Island State Park, both Bayside and Gulfside 

To view Mote Marine Aquarium's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to:  http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-127-Mote_Marine_Laboratory_Aquarium