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State Urges Continued Caution on Creek

The Washington Post

August 20, 1999

Maryland officials continued yesterday to urge boaters, swimmers and fishermen to use caution on a 2 1/2-mile stretch of Back Creek in Somerset County, between Raccoon Point and the Millard Long Road bridge, after three people exhibited symptoms associated with exposure to the toxic microbe Pfiesteria piscicida.

Two summers ago, Pfiesteria sickened several people, killed thousands of fish and led officials to close several waterways leading to the Chesapeake Bay. Yesterday, state biologists found only healthy fish and took additional water samples for testing.

Still, Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) said the three people who have suffered flu-like symptoms and skin rashes are a "red flag" that officials should be vigilant. Two of the people with symptoms were state investigators taking water samples after the complaints of the first person, said Robert Venezia, of the state health department.