Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 13:16:03 -0500 (EST)
From: promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Vibrio, lobsters - USA (ME)
VIBRIO, LOBSTERS - USA (ME)
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail, a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: 2 Jan 2004
From: ProMED-mail
Source: The Washington Post [edited]
Bacterial Strains May Cause Limp Lobster Ailment
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Lobster catchers from Maine have been perplexed by the emergence of a new
fatal disease -- one that causes weakness and lethargy and has come to be
known as limp lobster disease.
Limp lobster has resulted in millions of dollars in losses for the industry,
but its cause has remained a mystery. Now researchers have found the
culprits: several never-before-identified strains of bacteria.
They are still unnamed but are related to another bacterium, _Vibrio
fluvialis_, known to cause diseases in humans and fish. Researchers from the
Food and Drug Administration's Center or Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in
College Park and from the University of Maine's Lobster Institute in Orono
recovered the bacteria from afflicted lobsters and showed that the microbes
could cause the disease in healthy lobsters.
The bacteria produce several potent toxins that account for their lethality,
the researchers report in the December [2003] issue of Applied and
Environmental Microbiology. Some strains have extra bits of DNA that make
them extra deadly. It is not clear why the bacteria suddenly appeared in the
region in 1997, but the researchers suggest that global climate changes may
have played a role. Previous research has suggested that iron-rich dust from
African deserts can be transported to the North Atlantic by winds, where they
provide a nutritional boost for varieties of plankton with which vibrio
bacteria associate.
They also say lobsters may be more susceptible when they are not harvested
from traps promptly, because of the weakened immunity that can come with
prolonged captivity.
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