http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=engA microscopic organism linked to large fish kills, shellfish toxicity and human lung irritation in Florida and southern coastal areas was detected in water samples collected last month along much of Delaware's ocean coast, the lower Delaware Bay and the Indian River Bay. The microbes - the potentially toxic Karenia brevis and a less widely researched relative, Karenia papilionacea - apparently caused no problems with fish, shellfish or humans. There is no evidence that the organisms remain in the local water. But the discovery has prompted concern because the microbe can kill fish and cause serious human distress when the toxins the microbe emits are absorbed by shellfish and then eaten by people. Physical symptoms from such exposure usually occur within a few hours of eating and include nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, muscle aches and tingling in the mouth, throat and limbs. Symptoms typically go away in a few days.
Some people also suffer bronchial problems when the toxins become airborne during blooms, which have been dubbed "red tide" because of the red water discoloration that normally comes with them. No one is certain what makes the microbes release toxins, and it appears they sometimes are benign. State officials said Karenia brevis microbes were detected in early September on most ocean beaches from Cape Henlopen south to Fenwick Island. The microbes stayed the longest near Cape Henlopen and were gone by mid-September. Kevin C. Donnelly, state director of water resources, said he believes state officials took a cautious approach by stepping up sampling and monitoring once they realized the microbes were present. State officials didn't release the findings. Instead, they were included in a monitoring report issued by the University of Delaware's Citizen Monitoring Program.)
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whose water is next?
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