The USPHS doctors serving in the TEKTITE program were assigned by the Program 

 Manager the responsibility for ensuring basic health standards in base camp, 

 but were not able to enforce their recommendations for improving the con- 

 ditions they found there because of conflicting regulations. 



Medical Experiences Not Directly Related to the Missions or Base Camp 



Sanitation aboard the support ship UNDAUNTED was of particular concern when 

 the Minitat medical officer assumed medical supervision of the 100-foot 

 operations in June of 1970 „ Dysentery had been a problem, affecting nearly 

 one-third of the crew. This situation was rectified once the water aboard the 

 ship, supplied from St. Thomas, was properly chlorinated. 



Of more than passing interest in the TEKTITE experience was a malady of which 

 many of us had heard but few had had any firsthand acquaintance. It is 

 ciguatera poisoning, caused by a toxin generated in the reef-habitat food 

 chain and ingested by certain of the indigenous fish population. 



It is not known why some waters contain toxin-bearing fish whereas others do 

 not, or why some fish (even of the same species) carry the toxin and others 

 do not. But one of the most notorious sites of ciguatera poisoning is in the 

 waters very near Lameshur Bay. It was here that the captain and four crewmen 

 from the ADVANCE II caught an eight-pound dog snapper (Lutjanus jocu) on 

 October 13, 1970, which they cooked for supper. All five developed classic 

 symptoms of ciguatera poisoning: vomiting and loose bowels, long-term severe 

 itching, muscular weakness, lack of energy, and in one man, violent muscle 

 spasms. The captain was hospitalized for one weeko The symptoms in all victims 

 gradually subsided in intensity with the passage of several weeks' time. 



Additionally, the wife of an employee of the Virgin Islands Ecological Research 

 Station, following ingestion of a large grouper in midsummer, exhibited 

 neurologic dysfunction, which required several months to resolve. Several others 

 developed gastrointestinal symptoms following the same meal. 



William Brownell and Willard Rainey, also of the Research Station, ate one of 

 three silky snappers (Lutjanus vivanus Cuvier) caught near Lameshur Bay; the 

 other fish were eaten by two other groups of people. Only Brownell and Rainey 

 became ill. They were ill for three days, but did not require hospitalization. 

 (It might be mentioned that Mr. Brownell and the Medical Director were non- 

 believers in ciguatera poisoning until this occurrence, thinking that most 

 alleged cases were simply the result of local fishermen having mishandled their 

 catch under the hot Caribbean sun.) 



The research staff of the Caribbean Research Institute is presently conducting 

 a study of ciguatera poisoning in the Virgin Islands to complement the work 

 being done by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Studies at the University 

 of Hawaii are also attempting to solve the mystery of this toxin. 



DECOMPRESSION TABLE DEVELOPMENT 



Background 



The proposed Minitat missions were, of course, unique in the history of satu- 

 ration diving. Not only were there no available data on nitrogen saturation 



IX-14 



