Medical Dictionary

Pfiesteria

noun Pfie·ster·ia \fē-ˈstir-ē-ə, fis-ˈtir-\

Medical Definition of PFIESTERIA

:  a genus of dinoflagellates including one (Pfiesteria piscicida) found in waters especially along the middle and southern Atlantic coast of the United States that produces a toxin which causes skin lesions in fish, that feeds upon the lesions sometimes causing large fish die-offs, and that may cause symptoms (as skin lesions and memory loss) in humans exposed to the toxin

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