A warning about shellfish in Delaware Bay
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - June 8, 2008 Gary Richards is the lead scientist for the U.S. Agriculture
Department's seafood safety laboratory in Dover, Del., and the lead
author of the two-year study, published in this month's edition of
Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
He says the study results are a "wake-up call to monitor the
shore more closely."
Researchers caution that those in danger of getting sick
shouldn't be eating raw shellfish anyway.
Still, researchers found two potentially dangerous species of
the bacteria shewanella and one species of photobacterium in
oysters and seawater in the bay.
The study says the bacteria could cause skin and blood
infections.
Oyster companies in the bay already voluntarily shut down
harvests the last two weeks of June -- a time when bacteria can
especially flourish.
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Information from: The Press of Atlantic City,
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
