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After a person contracted a rare bacterial infection that’s likely linked to a Buzzards Bay beach, public health officials are urging Bay Staters with wounds to take precautions around coastal waters and to be vigilant about handling and consuming raw seafood.
The state Department of Public Health issued an alert Wednesday about the “extremely rare case” of an individual developing a Vibrio vulnificus infection.
A person swimming with an open wound at Old Silver Beach in Falmouth contracted Vibrio vulnificus, the town of Falmouth announced Tuesday. Town health officials encouraged swimmers to “make informed choices about their health and safety.” The town noted that no advisory or closure is in effect for Old Silver Beach.
Infections with Vibrio vulnificus can “cause severe, even life-threatening illness,” said Robbie Goldstein, the state’s public health commissioner. People are at greater risk of severe disease if they have liver disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV or thalassemia, or are receiving immunosuppressive therapy.
“Vibrio bacteria normally live in warm, salt or brackish waters along the Atlantic coast,” Goldstein said. “Heat waves and above-average water surface temperatures create favorable conditions for Vibrio bacteria to grow, making May through October generally the peak season for these bacteria. People with open wounds who spend time in the water, or those who consume contaminated shellfish, can develop an infection when the bacteria enter the body.”
In Massachusetts, state health officials say there have been 71 confirmed and probable cases from various Vibrio species this year — with 30% of those individuals hospitalized.
Vibrio infections in Massachusetts have been linked only to wound infections from swimming, not to eating shellfish, the town of Falmouth said, though it noted shellfish cases in New York and Connecticut.
DPH recommends that people with wounds cover them with a waterproof bandage or stay out of coastal waters, immediately wash wounds after contact with coastal waters, and wear protective clothing and shoes.
People handling raw seafood should immediately wash their hands to avoid cross-contamination with other food, and be vigilant around consuming raw or undercooked seafood like oysters. The bacteria can also cause gastrointestinal issues, officials say.
People with open wounds who are exposed to warm coastal waters should monitor their symptoms and seek medical care “if they develop fever, chills, dangerously low blood pressure, blistering skin lesions or any redness, pain, swelling, warmth, discoloration, or discharge at the site of the wound,” DPH says.
Vibrio vulnificus is more common in beaches on the Gulf Coast. In Louisiana, 20 residents have contracted the infection and four have died this year, according to WBRZ in Baton Rouge. There have been 16 cases and five deaths in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The Light contributed reporting.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly MA-DPH implicates eating raw shellfish, and specifically oysters, when discussing a Vibrio vulnificus (Vv) illness. Even when there have been no reported cases of Vv illness caused by consuming raw oysters in Massachusetts and the current situation involves exposure to seawater in an open wound with no shellfish involved. Raw seafood destined for human consumption are strictly managed to prevent proliferation of Vibrio pathogens and are perfectly safe to consume. Maybe someday the MA-DPH will try to work with the local shellfish industry rather than damaging their businesses with nonrelevant claims.
Eating raw shellfish on your own, in other words, personal shell fishing, is not managed shellfish you buy.
Why would there be a picture of West Beach in New Bedford when you are talking about an infection that occurred at a beach in Falmouth??
Good catch!
If one looks more closely (as I should have done before my earlier comment) at the MA-DPH notice (https://www.mass.gov/news/department-of-public-health-alerts-public-to-rare-vibrio-vulnificus-bacteria-in-coastal-waters), they do a good job of reporting on the Vv incident without invoking an expanded warning to include shellfish consumption. My apologies to MA-DPH.
However, somewhere between the DPH Advisory and the published report in the New Bedford Light (and other papers) shellfish were unjustifiably brought into the discussion. That was very unfortunate!
To all residents heed the warning and please be careful, this is a problem here in New Bedford as well, when ever it rains, millions of gallons of raw sewerage are still released into our inner harbor, outer harbor, and Clark’s Cove and nothing is being done to address this.
Another concern is anyone engaging in any activities in the northern harbor (walking, rowing, bird watching) should be very careful as well, while we have made inroads to the PCB problem, it’s far from being fully addressed.
In the northern area of the Acushet River PCB areas were capped and not removed (cost savings ???), so those areas are still contaminated, and then there was also an independent article that was written in June of 2017 identifying New Bedford Harbor as major source of Airborne PCB’s, here is the link to the article (https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/new-bedford-harbor-identified-as-major-source-of-airborne-pcbs/). Take a look it states the airborne PCB emissions are so high that researchers say the harbor is the single largest continuous source of airborne PCB’s ever measured from natural waters in the US or Canada. The study appears in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
To date I have not seen any updated reports on this issue (Airborne PCB’s).
Shifting to the south end, years after the Aerovox was clean upped, the Cornell Dubilier plant that produced PCB’s for years sits idle, fenced in, and nothing has ever been done to clean it up. Is this neighbor safe (Cleveland Street, Mott Street, David Street, Rodney French Blvd, walking the dike, and the waters in the harbor).
Lastly the upgrading of New Bedford’s Sewerage Treatment plant should be the number one priority on all our Politicians Agenda (Local, State, and Federal).
New Bedford deserves better and again to all residents, their families, and children please be careful.
A rare outbreak has occurred in North Carolina and now to see it in New England, global warming is real, it is not a hoax.