DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090521

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   31 lines

EARLY RESULTS DON'T CONNECT PFIESTERIA TO ILLNESS IN VA.

Preliminary tests indicate that toxins released by a fish-eating microbe in Virginia waterways are not causing illness in humans, according to the state's health commissioner.

Neurocognitive examinations on four people still must be done to determine better whether there's a link between Pfiesteria piscicida and such symptoms as memory loss, skin lesions and nausea, Commissioner Randolph L. Gordon said Tuesday.

``We're not ready at this point to say there are no pfiesteria-related problems,'' he said. ``But we don't see evidence of any acute kind of syndrome that Maryland had.''

Maryland reported 11 people whose symptoms suggested a link between their illnesses and the one-cell organism that has been blamed for killing tens of thousands of fish in North Carolina and Maryland this summer.

Virginia identified eight people from several waterways whose symptoms fit the profile of someone suffering from a pfiesteria-related illness. Health officials refused to reveal the names of all the rivers, saying that information might give clues to the victims' identities.

Of those victims, four have undergone physicals, blood tests and neurological exams. The other four have either declined to be tested or have yet to be scheduled for tests.

Anyone who has questions or would like to report symptoms, the Health Department hot line is 1-888-238-6154.

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