parasites, not viruses
Brent Finnegan -- March 10th, 2008
The Northern Virginia Daily is about two months late with news that Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is not the cause of the massive fish kills in the Valley. However, all this talk of parasites is news to me.
Scientists found many fish-kill victims had large numbers of parasites in their bodies.
“It is not unusual at all to see parasites in fish, but it is the huge number [of] parasites that basically replace the normal tissue,” said Vicki Blazer, a fish pathologist that works at a USGS facility in Leetown, W.Va. “We continue to see very high parasite loads, [and] different kinds of parasites.” [...]
For example, one parasite is a worm that proliferates in highly organic sediment rich with nutrients. If that worm is found in a fish, “that would suggest … nutrients are playing a role, and that we could maybe do something about that,” Blazer said.
Another theory the task force has been exploring is that something is suppressing fish immune systems, leaving them open to contaminants and pathogens, which are disease-producing agents.
A recent analysis of fish-kill data by USGS scientists shows there are many different pathogens in the fish.
“I still feel what we have is a stressed population that has become susceptible to a lot of different things,” Blazer said.
Thanks to Adam for sending that article along.
Adam, indeed, thank you. I think we have found a major contributor to the fish immune system problem in the amount of human contaminants that they ingest. The problem NOW is how do we control or even stop it. We probably cannot, and that is scary. Our water, once thought “safe” can no longer be.