ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997 TAG: 9704170047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C.
The tiny killer has left millions of menhaden, shad and flounder dead and rotting in the Carolinas.
Millions of fish in North Carolina's marshlands have turned up dead with ugly, open sores caused by a microorganism that feeds on their blood. Now, some scientists suspect the organism preys on humans, too.
More than a dozen fishermen, divers and others have found open sores on their bodies, reported feeling faint or complained of memory loss after coming into contact with brown water fouled with dead fish.
The organism killing the fish is known as pfiesteria, and biologists call it ``the cell from hell.''
Pfiesteria has been likened to the piranha of the microbial world. Yet, a piranha wouldn't stand a chance against this bloodthirsty menace.
Scientists say the tiny organisms secrete a toxin that eats holes in fish, then slowly paralyzes their muscles and suffocates them.
North Carolina State University researcher JoAnn Burkholder, who helped discover the one-celled organism in 1990, is convinced that pfiesteria's toxins sickened her and as many as nine other researchers. She and a fellow researcher said they suffered severe neurological symptoms, including memory loss, after handling the organism in a lab in 1993.
But she said state health officials seem more concerned with avoiding bad publicity that could harm tourism than investigating the possible danger to humans. Although the state committed $585,000 to study pfiesteria in 1995, the money is just now making its way to researchers.
``We still need to know an awful lot,'' Burkholder said. ``It's an unfortunate tragedy that we don't know more by now.''
State officials defended their efforts, saying that they are collecting evidence and studying the problem, and that there is no proof the organism attacks humans. ``We continue to try to gather information within the limits of our resources,'' said Mike Moser, director of epidemiology.
Pfiesteria, a one-celled organism called a dinoflagellate, has existed for thousands and perhaps millions of years. It has been found as far north as Delaware and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. It can live in either fresh or salt water.
Nowhere has the tiny killer been more prevalent than in North Carolina's huge estuaries, where slow-moving saltwater is captured behind the islands of the Outer Banks. It has left millions of menhaden, shad and flounder dead and rotting on the shores of the Neuse and New rivers.
Burkholder's research indicates that the tiny creatures proliferate and take on a deadly form when exposed to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous - byproducts of human and animal waste.
She and others believe the organism became a problem in North Carolina waters as the state's hog farming industry and population rose dramatically over the past decade.
David Jones, a New Bern fisherman who once ran a wholesale fish market on the river shores, is convinced pfiesteria is responsible for the severe memory lapses and other neurological problems he says he suffers.
Jones said his problems began in 1988, when he experienced what he thought was heat stroke while working his crab pots during a fish kill.
``This stuff is real, and it's bad, and I certainly wouldn't want you or anyone else to have it,'' he said. ``What's inside of me eating me alive?''
Questions about pfiesteria's effects on people have grown since a book tracing its discovery, ``And the Waters Turned to Blood'' by Rodney Barker, was released earlier this month. State officials have criticized the book and complained that it created hysteria.
Burkholder said proving that people's health problems are caused by pfiesteria is difficult because researchers have yet to isolate and identify its toxins.
Until then, doctors won't be able to test people's blood or tissues for evidence that the sores or other symptoms have been caused by pfiesteria.
Dr. Chris Delaney, a New Bern physician who has treated two people with skin sores, criticized the state's handling of the issue.
``I don't see this as high science, but the political lay of the land is such that there is a lot of resistance to change,'' he said.
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