This letter responds to the citizen petition submitted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), dated June 29, 1998. In that petition, CSPI requested that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) establish a performance standard that would require the reduction of Vibrio vulnz~cus to nondetectable levels in raw molluscan shellfish which are (i) intended for raw consumption and (ii...

Bacteriophages have been proposed as an alternative to antibiotic usage and several studies on their application in aquaculture have been reported. This review highlights progress to date on phage therapies for the following fish and shellfish diseases and associated pathogens: hemorrhagic septicemia (Aeromonas hydrophila) in loaches, furunculosis (Aeromonas salmonicida) in trout and salmon, ed...

We assessed the capacity of real-time PCR markers to identify the origin of contamination in shellfish. Oyster, cockles or clams were either contaminated with fecal materials and host-associated markers designed from Bacteroidales or Catellicoccus marimammalium 16S RNA genes were extracted from their intravalvular liquid, digestive tissues or shellfish flesh. Extraction of bacterial DNA from th...

Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus) infection is a disease with serious health implications. Notably there are only about 50 confirmed cases of V. vulnificus per year but, the severity of the disease that is caused by this organism makes it the most pathogenic Vibrio. The organism is infamously associated with shellfish especially raw oysters and this could lead to the abated consumer confidence ...

Oyster beds in Galveston Bay, Texas, were closed to harvesting during most of the summer of 1998 because 416 persons in 13 states fell ill after eating raw oysters traced to this location (21). Then, just as these shellfish beds appeared to be safe again, New York authorities forbade the harvest of clams and oysters from beds near Long Island in mid-September, after 10 people became ill from ea...

Chesapeake Bay, the Nation’s largest estuary, has been adversely impacted by excess nutrients. Excess nutrients have caused low dissolved oxygen levels leading to loss of fisheries and other living resources. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is leading an effort to reduce nutrient sources and loads in the Bay watershed to meet dissolved oxygen criteria in the Bay by 2010. The U.S. Geological Su...

Anjay, S.C. Das, A. Kumar, P. Kaushik & Savita Kumari Eastern Regional Station, IVRI, Belgachia, Kolkata-700 037, India. Department of Veterinary Public Health, Bihar Veterinary College, Patna800 014, Bihar, India Division of Veterinary Public Health, E.R.S., I.V.R.I., Belgachia, Kolkata700 037, West Bengal, India Division of Veterinary Public Health, I.V.R.I., Izatnagar, Bareilly243 122, Uttar...

Disease outbreaks caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Puerto Montt, Chile, began in 2004 and reached a peak in 2005 at 3,600 clinical cases. Until 2006, every analyzed case was caused by the serovar O3:K6 pandemic strain. In the summer of 2007, only 475 cases were reported; 73% corresponded to the pandemic strain. This decrease was associated with a change in serotype of many pandemic isolates...

The use of stone tools by macaques in Thailand has reduced the size and population density of coastal shellfish: previously it was thought that overharvesting effects resulted from human activity alone.

We've all heard about the "good stuff" in seafood (and if you haven't, check out the Health benefits of fish oils [2] in the Go Ask Alice! archives), but cholesterol [3] often gets less attention. Gram for gram, cholesterol levels in most shellfish are comparable to the levels in beef, pork, and poultry. But, unlike other meat, shellfish actually have low levels of saturated fat [4]. This is cr...