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CHESAPEAKE BAY: TOXIC MICROBE APPARENTLY SICKENS WORKERS

Providing "circumstantial evidence" that the microbe Pfiesteria piscicida could harm people, Maryland officials yesterday said three state workers were among the 14 people who became ill after coming in contact with the Pocomoke River during a fish-kill event earlier this month.

A doctor attending two of the employees said they suffered blisters and peeling skin on areas exposed to river water, as well as memory loss and respiratory problems. But state officials "withheld judgment" on the human impacts of the microbe, which is thought possibly responsible for killing 11,000 fish from 8/6 to 8/9 (Greenwire, 8/15) (Todd Shields, Washington Post, 8/20).

The MD Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene said yesterday it will send a team of doctors to Somerset County on 8/22 to treat people who reported symptoms linked to the microbe (Dennis O'Brien, Baltimore Sun, 8/19).