Cholera in Eastpoint, Florida - History of Acknowledged Trouble

dear Mike and group:

there seems to be a history of acknowledged trouble in the area.  here are some 
references and contacts.  a nice hurricane or two to churn up the shallow bay 
might worsen conditions further.

spaceimage: http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/printinfo.pl?PHOTO=STS083-749-28
map: http://www.baynavigator.com/Apalachicola_National_Estuarine_Research_Reserve.cfm
national research reserve: 
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Apalachicola_National_Estuarine_Research_Reserve,_Florida

'best,

Stuart

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http://oysterradio.blogspot.com/2011/05/vibrio-cholera-traced-back-to.html
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Vibrio Cholera traced back to Apalachicola Bay oysters

            Some Apalachicola Bay oysters are being recalled after being linked 
to an outbreak of Vibrio cholera.

The recalled oysters include shell stock, frozen half shell and fresh and frozen 
stock – most of which has already been consumed.

The recalled oysters were harvested from area 1642 since March the 21st.

That area is east of the St. George Island Bridge and includes the Cat Point 
bar.

The area was closed last Friday and will remain closed while state officials 
continue to test the area for any signs of the bacteria.

Vibrio Cholera is very rare in Florida – there probably hasn’t been a case in 
Florida in at least 20 years.

Florida Division of Aquaculture chief Leslie Palmer told county commissioners on 
Tuesday that the cause of the outbreak is not known and will likely never be 
known for sure, but there were two incidents that could have been factors.

The most likely cause was the Army Corps of Engineers dredging in the bay which 
stirred up the substrate where Vibrio cholera naturally exists.

Miss Palmer said that in the future her division will work much more closely 
with the Army Corps of Engineers if there is any dredging in the bay so they can 
proactively close areas that might be impacted.

The other was a sewer leak in Eastpoint near the old Miller and Sons seafood 
which was discovered and fixed on April the 8th.

They don’t know how long the sewer leak was there.

Miss Palmer said that was a less likely suspect and the Eastpoint Water and 
Sewer District said the leak was small and likely did not even go into the bay.

At least 11 people are known to have gotten sick from the oysters including a 12 
year old Florida boy and a 27 year old woman.

Another 4 cases are suspected but those patients did not go through the 
epidemiological process.

The last reported illness was on April the 13th.

There were no cases reported in Franklin County.

Water samples taken from the site have shown nothing out of the ordinary.

They are not taking meat or substrate samples because if they found the bacteria 
in those samples FDA would not allow the area to be reopened ever.

The Division of Aquaculture now has to file a report with the Food and Drug 
Administration explaining how they think the Vibrio cholera was introduces in 
the oysters and whether all necessary steps have been taken to alleviate the 
problem.

They hope to have that report completed this week – they are currently working 
with oyster dealers to get shipping records and other information.

They do not know how long area 1642 will remain closed to oyster harvesting but 
hope to have it open as soon as possible – before that can happen, however, the 
report has to be completed and accepted by the FDA.

Commissioner Pinki Jackel said that the area needs to be reopened as quickly as 
possible because every day it is closed it is costing local people thousands of 
dollars.

County commissioners said they will write a letter to the Eastpoint Water and 
Sewer District asking that in the future they are alerted to any leaks that 
could impact the oyster harvesting areas.

They will also write a letter to the Northwest Florida Water Management District 
alerting them to the situation.

http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail ***@***.*** with comments 

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC201907/pdf/aem00027-0427.pdf  
[attached]
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 1994, p. 3897-3900
0099-2240/94/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1994, American Society for Microbiology
Pertinence of Indicator Organisms and Sampling Variables to Vibrio 
Concentrations
ESTHER G. L. KOH,* JUNG-HO HUYN,t AND PAUL A. LAROCKt
Department of Oceanography, Floiida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306
Received 28 June 1994/Accepted 19 July 1994
Vibrio-indicator relationships and effects of day, depth, and tidal levels on 
the density of vibrios enumerated by the most probable number technique were 
investigated. Counts of vibrios taken monthly from Apalachicola Bay, Fla., were 
either negatively correlated or showed no correlation with counts of indicator 
bacteria (Escherichia coli, enterococci, fecal coliforms, and total coliforms). 
Water samples collected on two days from the surface and bottom over a complete 
tidal cycle on each day were analyzed for differences in vibrio concentrations. 
Concentrations of vibrios in samples taken on different days, in those taken at 
different depths, and in those taken at different tidal levels were 
significantly different, indicating that these factors need to be taken into 
account in health-related studies. <snip>

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http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00089927/00048/4j   [attached]
Franklin County Chronical, October 10, 1994, page 4
A gene test for Vibrio vulnificus - part III
by Frank Stephenson, from Research in Review, Florida State University

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http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/65/7/3142.pdf  [attached]

APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY,
0099-2240/99/$04.0010
July 1999, p. 3142–3147 Vol. 65, No. 7
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Discriminant Analysis of Ribotype Profiles of Escherichia coli for 
Differentiating Human and Nonhuman
Sources of Fecal Pollution†
SALINA PARVEEN,1,2* KENNETH M. PORTIER,3 KEVIN ROBINSON,3
LEE EDMISTON,4 AND MARK L. TAMPLIN1,2
Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences,1 Department of Food Science 
and
Human Nutrition,2 and Department of Statistics,3 University of Florida, 
Gainesville,
Florida 32611-0287, and Department of Environmental Protection,
East Point, Florida 323284
Received 19 February 1999/Accepted 26 April 1999
Estuarine waters receive fecal pollution from a variety of sources, including 
humans and wildlife. Escherichia coli is a ubiquitous bacterium in the 
intestines of warm-blooded animals and is used as an indicator of fecal 
pollution. However, its presence does not specifically differentiate sources of 
pollution. A total of 238 E. coli isolates from human sources (HS) and nonhuman 
sources (NHS) were collected from the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research 
Reserve, from associated sewage treatment plants, and directly from animals and 
tested for ribotype (RT) profile. HS and NHS isolates showed 41 and 61 RT 
profiles, respectively. At a similarity index of ca. 50%, HS and NHS isolates 
demonstrated four clusters, with the majority of HS and NHS isolates located in 
clusters C and D; isolates obtained directly from human and animal feces also 
could be grouped within these clusters. Discriminant analysis (DA) of RT 
profiles showed that 97% of the NHS isolates and 100% of the animal fecal 
isolates were correctly classified. The average rate of correct classification 
for HS and NHS isolates was 82%. We conclude that DA of RT profiles may be a 
useful method for identifying HS and NHS fecal pollution and may potentially 
facilitate management practices. <snip>

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