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).