Reply #1: There has been outbreaks of pfiesteria. Saw something about it [View All]

[BrklynLiberal]

on TV last night.
North Carolina and Maryland had a breakout in the recent past.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/cmse/science/pfiesteria.html
The Fuss Over Pfiesteria

Hundreds, sometimes thousands of dead fish, their bodies disfigured by bizarre open sores--these were the press reports out of eastern North Carolina in the early Nineties. Baffled scientists tested for the usual fish kill suspects and found none. What was wrong?

The answer came when NC State veterinary scientists filled one of their brackish water aquariums with Pamlico River water and 300 fish promptly went belly up. The water contained no known pollutants, bacteria, or pathogens. But it was swarming with microscopic, animal-like cells of a previously unknown species, now called Pfiesteria piscicida (pronounced feast-er-ia pis-ki-seed-a). Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, an NC State aquatic botanist, has become the best-known authority on pfiesteria and its environmental effects, but many other scientists are studying the organism.
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(2) Pfiesteria is indeed dangerous. Researchers in the NC State lab of Dr. JoAnn Burkholder quickly found that its toxins cause neurological symptoms, including memory loss, disorientation, and speech impediments. One researcher had to be hospitalized before adequate laboratory precautions were worked out.
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(4)The pfiesteria outbreaks are associated with the known water quality problems in North Carolina estuaries. This seems very clear now. Pfiesteria has become a big problem in waters having low oxygen levels and high nutrient loads caused by sewage discharges and agricultural runoff


More info and links
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pfiesteriainfections.html