Diarrheal shellfish poisoning

Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) is one of the four recognised symptom types of shellfish poisoning, the others being paralytic shellfish poisoning, neurologic shellfish poisoning and amnesic shellfish poisoning.

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As the name suggests, this syndrome manifests itself as diarrhea, although nausea, vomiting and cramps are all common too. Most diarrhoea cases however, regardless of cause, seem to have the exact same set of symptoms, as diarrhoea is usually the body's effort to avoid absorbing water in the intestines, to flush out any micro-organisms that may have been ingested, and this causes the other symptoms as unfortunate side-effects of the body's efforts to cleanse itself.

DSP and its symptoms usually set in within about half an hour of ingesting infected shellfish, and last for about one day. As no life-threatening symptoms generally emerge from this, no fatalities from DSP have ever been recorded.