DATE: Wednesday, October 1, 1997            TAG: 9710010467

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ATLANTA                           LENGTH:   34 lines

CDC PLANNING MULTI-STATE STUDY OF PFIESTERIA

The U.S. government's watchdog over public health said Tuesday it will launch a multi-state study of a fish-killing microbe's impact on people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also plans to start keeping regular watch of Pfiesteria piscicida in states already plagued by the killer organism.

``We plan to look for the association between the pfiesteria microbe and illness in humans from environmental exposure,'' said Dr. Michael McGeehin, CDC's chief of health studies for the division of environmental health.

The CDC announced its plans after a two-day meeting in Atlanta of scientists from several coastal states about the menacing microbe.

Pfiesteria is a harmless, one-celled organism that can live on river floors until something triggers it to change form and emit a poison that subdues the fish and allows it to feed on them until they die.

It is blamed for killing millions of fish in North Carolina, and a similar species is linked to massive fish kills in some of Maryland's waters.

Maryland's governor closed the lower Pocomoke River after a medical team linked the microbe to rashes, nausea and breathing problems suffered by at least 13 people exposed to the river.

Scientists hope to eventually devise some test that would detect any presence of the microbe in people, McGeehin said. CDC hopes to map out the plans for the studies in the next few months.

Fish feces are believed to set the killer algae in motion. Researchers are trying to determine whether farm runoff and pollution also activate the microbe.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu