Anaphylactic Shock Caused by Exposure to Sea Anemones

Abstract

Protein antigen(s) in sea anemones may cause anaphylactic shock under the influence of the cytolytic effects and/or lymphocyte-stimulating activity elicited by the toxin of sea anemones.

Exploiting the Nephrotoxic Effects of Venom from the Sea Anemone, Phyllodiscus semoni, to Create a Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Model in the Rat

“…Most sea anemones are harmless for man or at worst cause dermatitis by contact irritants/toxins. However, venom of some sea anemones is extremely harmful for man; Actinodendron plumosum (Hell’s Fire sea anemone), Actineria villosa (Okinawan sea anemone, called fusa-unbachi in Japan) and P. semoni all cause severe injury including dermatitis [15,127], hepatitis [24], renal failure [18] and anaphylactic shock [22]. The sea anemones Anemonia sulcata and Anemonia equine , were reported to cause severe dermatitis with hyper- and parakeratosis with many infiltrative cells in the skin [128], while toxins from other sea anemones, including Actinia equina , Anemonia sulcata , Anthopleura xanthgrammica , Bunodosoma granulifera , Bunodosoma caissarum and Stichodactyla helianthus , were cytolytic, haemolytic, neurotoxic and cardiotoxic [129,130,131,132,133,134,135].…”

“…The Hell’s Fire sea anemone ( Actinodendron plumosum ) is named for the severe skin ulceration caused by its sting [10,20]. Envenomation by the sea anemone Stichodactyla haddoni caused shock and organ failure, including fulminant hepatitis [22,24]. Phyllodiscus semoni ( P. semoni ) is another sea anemone dangerous to humans.…”

Masquerade, mimicry and crypsis of the polymorphic sea anemone Phyllodiscus semoni and its aggregations in South Sulawesi

“…Some competitive anthozoans show aggressive behavior and are known to reach high concentrations and dense substrate cover at the expense of other benthic animals by use of their venom or by simply overgrowing them (Chadwick, 1987;England, 1987;Chadwick and Adams, 1991;Chadwick-Furman and Spiegel, 2000;Chen et al, 2008). Due to the high toxicity of their venoms, some anthozoans, especially sea anemones, are also know to be potentially harmful to man by inflicting long-lasting wounds (Hansen and Halstead, 1971;Halstead, 1988;Williamson et al, 1996;Mizuno et al, 2000;Nagata et al, 2006;Bergbauer et al, 2007).…”

“…Particularly in Japan, where specimens were found at Okinawa, P. semoni has been subjected to various toxicological analyses (Mizuno et al, 2000(Mizuno et al, , 2007Nagai et al, 2002a, b;Nagata et al, 2006;Satoh et al, 2007). Its toxin not only causes damage to skin that has been in contact with the sea anemone (of which the first author knows too well), but also affects the human kidney (Nagai et al, 2002a, b;Mizuno et al, 2007;Satoh et al, 2007).…”

“…Gosliner et al, 1996;Williamson et al, 1996;Coleman, 2000;Halstead, 2000;Erhardt and Knop, 2005;Bergbauer et al, 2007) and is the subject of toxicological studies (e.g. Mizuno et al, 2000Mizuno et al, , 2007Nagai et al, 2002a, b;Nagata et al, 2006;Satoh et al, 2007), there is still very little published information about the natural history of this species.…”