Wash. State has first case of shellfish poisoning

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


Washington State Health Department officials say they have the first case of a strain of shellfish poisoning making a people in the United States ill. Samples in a small bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca detected presence of Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning or DSP. The tests were conducted at Sequim Bay after members of a local family came down with symptoms of DSP after collecting and eating mussels from the bay. Local health officials were ordered to post signs and close shellfish fish harvesting on the beach and state officials say they were able to recall all shellfish gathered commercially at the site. Campers in the area say they were curious about the signs but like most residents, they refrain from shellfish gathering during the summer months. Operators at Sequim Bay State Park say they were surprised to learn their beach produced the first DSP illness in the country but say few people have complained about the closure. The Health Department is continuing to sample shellfish
in the Bay for DSP which has been common in Europe and parts of Canada but never detected in shellfish before in Washington State.
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makes me wonder about the orange eggs in Alaska

[MineralMan]

1. Why does it make you wonder about the orange eggs?

I don't see the connection there. Like most shellfish poisoning, this incident is caused by eating filter feeders like mussels at a time when toxic organisms are blooming in population. The mussels eat them, and the toxin is transferred to the humans who eat the mussels. Anyone with any sense doesn't consume mussels during the summer months. People who do consume them run a risk of illness.

Right now, if you want mussels, and it's understandable if you do, choose ones imported from New Zealand, where it's currently Winter. Once Fall arrives, those yummy Pacific coast mussels will still be there, ready for your seafood feast.

The orange eggs are a different phenomenon.

[ensho]

2. yes I know all that but the report made me wonder if they have found

out what the orange eggs are.

so sue me

[MineralMan]

3. I don't believe they've identified the eggs yet.

They may never identify them. There are many critters that live in the ocean for which we know nothing about their reproductive habits. Many are egg broadcasters, so this was probably just a set of coincidences that caused a normal release of eggs to accumulate in the area where they were found. Unless a species has some economical importance, it probably won't get much study, so I wouldn't count on ever hearing what creature those eggs came from. It'll probably never occur again, so it doesn't really matter.

[MineralMan]

4. By the way, did you ever figure out what was causing your

computer to crash on those pipe stories? I had some questions for you in that thread, but you didn't answer. I, or someone else here, can probably help you solve the problem, but we just don't have enough information so far.