THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997 TAG: 9701100555
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 26 lines
Shellfish lovers should not eat oysters harvested from some tainted Louisiana beds, the government warned Thursday, after an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness hit 150 people.
Louisiana shut down several oyster beds on Jan. 3, because 21 people in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana got sick after eating raw oysters during the Christmas holiday. Oysters from those beds were recalled earlier this week.
But the Food and Drug Administration discovered that the problem went beyond the three states, which were warned this week about the outbreak of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Most of the potentially tainted oysters were sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
And reports of illnesses have reached 150, with people sick in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
KEYWORDS: FDA OYSTERS