PROFESSOR of neuroscience Gilles Guillemin from Macquarie University was in the area recently taking more samples of blue green algae at Lake Wyangan for his research into its links with motor Neuron disease (MND).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It follows on from his visit last year to the same area.
A dramatic increase in the number of deaths from MND over the past 25 years is the basis for his work, trying to find out whether there is a link to exposure to the algae and the disease.
“The vast majority of MND cases, around 90 per cent, are sporadic, which means that there is no known cause for most patients with the disease,” Professor Guillemin said.
“For decades now, it has been observed that people who live beside lakes that are subject to frequent algal blooms or consume contaminated food or water, are at a higher risk of contracting MND.
“This was first observed in the 1960s when residents of Guam were found to have a greater level of MND than the general community and it was eventually traced to their consumption of contaminated fruit bats and cycad flour.
“Since, then correlations have been observed in soldiers returning from the Gulf war where the desert crusts consist of around 56 per cent blue green algae which synthesise a toxin linked to MND called BMAA,” he said.
“Also people who consume large amounts of seafood such as lobsters, mussels and oysters are at a greater risk.”
There is overwhelming evidence that the disease is increasing in the Australian population and unfortunately it is fatal once acquired.
“If an environmental cause of MND can be identified, then insight into the mechanisms that cause this progressive and fatal disease will lead to therapies that slow or stop it,” he said.
“An effective therapy will change a rapidly progressive and fatal disease into a chronic indolent disease, ensuring that people with MND will survive more than a few years,” he said.
Blue green algae, or cyanobacteria, is most often associated with nutrient runoff in coastal waters.
Worryingly, Professor Guillemin stated that most of the Riverina is affected by the blue green algae.