Vibrio parahaemolyticus - A new challenge for state shellfish control agencies

In late August 1998, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) shellfish sanitation program was advised by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) of a series of five (5) individual illnesses in shellfish consumers. Laboratory analyses of patient samples indicated that the illnesses were caused by the naturally occurring marine bacterium - Vibrio parahaemolyticus. (VP). The initial information available indicated that the shellfish implicated in the illnesses had been harvested from the area designated as NS-2, including Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbors, in northwestern Nassau County. On September 8, we learned that two individuals in New Jersey had become ill after consuming oysters from the same area. On September 9, the NYSDOH advised NYSDEC of their determination of a statistical association between the consumption of shellfish and the illnesses. On September 10, the NYSDEC Bureau of Marine Resources designated Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbors as uncertified for the harvest of shellfish on an emergency basis. The closure was in effect through October 22, a period of six weeks. The decision to reopen was based on declining water temperatures and the results of DNA probe examinations of oyster samples conducted by two FDA laboratories. In the interim, the federal Centers for Disease Control identified the 03:K6 strain of VP isolated from patient samples. That strain of VP had been identified as the cause of an oyster-related illness outbreak that affected approximately 450 people in several states during June. Galveston Bay, Texas was the source of the oysters in that outbreak. The 03:K6 strain has also been responsible for large seafood related illness outbreaks in southeast Asia, from India to Japan