Shellfish poisoning may have caused Haines man's death

John Saunders, who was flown to a Juneau hospital on Friday after showing symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning, was found dead at his home in Haines early Tuesday morning.

Saunders, 57, developed symptoms consistent with shellfish poisoning after eating Dungeness crab in Haines on Friday. The toxins that cause the sickness are found not in shellfish meat, but in the guts. Saunders was treated at Bartlett Regional until Monday morning, when he was released.

Alaska State Troopers responded to a call for help from Saunders' home a little after 5 a.m. Tuesday, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His body is being transported to Anchorage for an autopsy. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Services, Greg Wilkinson, said it is unclear at this time whether Saunders' death was related to the symptoms that put him in the hospital.

If it turns out Saunders died from paralytic shellfish poisoning, he would be the second person killed by the sickness in the past week. There have been five cases of shellfish poisoning in Alaska this year, though there were only two cases reported over the previous three years.

Contact Joshua Saul at jsaul(at)alaskadispatch.com.