
DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280529

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL  

SOURCE: KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: * Pfiesteria piscicida is a highly toxic organism that kills finfish and shellfish and threatens human health. Due to an editing error, some editions of Thursday's paper incorrectly identified pfisteria as a bacteria; it is a dinoflagellate. Correction published Friday, August 29, 1997. * 2,000 VA. FISH DEATHS MAY BE TIED TO MICROBE MARYLAND'S DEATH TOLL: MORE THAN 10,000

The one-celled predator that killed more than a billion fish in North Carolina - and poisoned scientists studying it - may have taken its first victims in Virginia.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, about 2,000 menhaden died on the Virginia side of Pocomoke Sound, said state officials. More than 10,000 fish have died on the Maryland side this month. And, on Wednesday, recreational fishermen reported catching fish with lesions in Folly Creek on the seaside of Accomack County.

The predator, pfiesteria piscicida, is a highly toxic organism that kills finfish and shellfish, and even eats human blood.

A fiesteria outbreak even remotely similar to the cases in North Carolina, could harm the Hampton Roads seafood and sports fishing industries, as well as tourism.

At least 24 people have reported illnesses after exposure to the Pocomoke River during or immediately after fish kills, a Maryland newspaper reported.

Virginia officials have not closed the Pocomoke, and no Virgina residents have reported illnesses that might be related to the fish kills, said Bill Hall of the Accomack County Health Department.

But state officials urge the public not to jump to conclusions, because there are many possible causes for fish lesions and fish kills.

``We've had some disturbing reports,'' said Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Dunlop at a previously scheduled meeting Wednesday of the Virginia Pfiesteria Task Force. ``Disturbing information requires us to look at the empirical data. We want Virginians to be aware of the facts and science, and not to be frightened unnecessarily.''

Reasearch shows that pfiesteria thrives in shallow, poorly flushed, brackish creeks that have a lot of algae as a result of nutrient-enriched run-off. It is uncertain how many estuaries in Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore fit this profile.

On Tuesday, the Accomack County Health Department issued a health advisory, warning citizens to take ``common sense'' precautions: don't go into water containing dead fish; don't eat fish or shellfish with lesions, or fish taken from an area where fish are dying; and see a doctor if you think you have symptoms related to pfiesteria exposure.

These include round ulcerations on the skin, confusion and short-term memory loss, stomach cramping and vomiting.

The Virginia Pfiesteria Task Force was created in June after reports of sick fish on the Pocomoke started surfacing. Members include scientists from VIMS and Old Dominion University, plus representatives of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia Health Department.

Dunlop directed task force members to ``communicate, communicate, communicate'' in their efforts to determine the cause of the Pocomoke fish kill. She asked them to carry beepers so they can be reached in the event of future fish kills that could be caused by pfiesteria.

``Since we view this at such a high level of concern here in Virginia, we need to make sure this task force is fully connected at all times,'' Dunlop said.

Task force members said it was too early to discuss pfiesteria risk management plans.

``We can't say `Where do we go from here?' because we don't know what the problem is,'' Wolfgang Vogelbein of VIMS said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

About Pfiesteria

What it is:

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Map

Area shown: KEYWORDS: FISH KILL PFIESTERIA