Taravana
Taravana, or Taravana syndrome is a disease often found among Polynesian island natives and others who habitually dive deep without breathing apparatus many times in close succession,[1][2][3] usually for food or pearls.[4][5] These free-divers may make 40 to 60 dives a day, each of 30 or 40 metres (100 to 140 feet).
Taravana appears to be a form of neurological decompression sickness. The usual symptoms are vertigo, nausea, lethargy, paralysis and death.[3][1]
Presentation is usually rapid onset of partial paralysis, visual and hearing problems and difficulties with speech. Occasionally of loss of consciousness or death have been recorded.[3]
The word taravana is Tuamotu Polynesian for "to fall crazily". It is hypothesized that microbubbles may form directly in brain tissue due to fast ascent rates.[1]
The syndrome was first described in 1956 by a Dr Truc, who had observed neurological disorders in pearl shell divers in the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. He used the term taravana, meaning "to fall mad", and suggested that it was a form of cerebrl decompression sickness.[1]
Taravana is also used to describe someone who is "crazy because of the sea".[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Druelle, Arnaud; Castagna, Olivier; Roffi, Romain; Louge, Pierre; Faivre, Anthony; Blatteau, Jean-Eric (24 September 2024). "Taravana syndrome and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome: a microbubble hypothesis for neurological accidents in breath-hold divers". Front Physiol. 15: 1478650. doi:10.3389/fphys.2024.1478650. PMC 11458415. PMID 39381329 – via National Library of Medicine.
- ^ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (22 June 2022). "taravana syndrome". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ a b c Cialoni, Danilo (30 May 2018). "Taravana: Fact or Falacy?". Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ Rahn, H.; Yokoyama, T. (1965). Physiology of Breath-Hold Diving and the Ama of Japan. United States: National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council. p. 369. ISBN 0-309-01341-0.
- ^ Wong, R. M. (1999). "Taravana revisited: Decompression illness after breath-hold diving". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 29 (3). ISSN 0813-1988. OCLC 16986801.
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