The Washington State Department of Health reports that 18 people have been sickened with Vibrio parahaemolyticus after eating raw oysters linked to commercial operations and four illnesses to recreational harvesting in Puget Sound and on the Washington coast.

Cooking shellfish thoroughly will prevent vibriosis illness and is always a good idea. This is especially important during the summer months of July and August when warm temperatures and low tides along ocean beaches and in Puget Sound allow the bacteria to thrive.

If you harvest oysters recreationally this summer, follow these steps to avoid vibriosis:

• Put oysters on ice or refrigerate them as soon as possible after harvest.
• If a receding tide has exposed oysters for a long time, don’t harvest them.
• Always cook oysters thoroughly. Cooking oysters at 145° F for 15 seconds destroys vibrio bacteria. Rinsing fully-cooked oysters with seawater can recontaminate them.

For commercial harvesters, special control measures are in place from May through September to keep people from getting sick if they eat raw oysters.

Guess those special measures didn’t work this time.
 

Liza Cabell says she'll never forget how sick she felt after getting food poisoning.

"I had food poisoning years and years ago, I think it was some bad crabs I ate", says Cabell.

CBS 6 reports that now, at the start of the holiday season, the Virgina Department of Health is warning doctors to be on the lookout for a foodborne illness found in certain raw shellfish.

"We're concerned about a bacterial infection called Vibriosis", says Seth Levine, Virginia Department of Health Epidemiologist.

One way to protect yourself from getting the illness is cooking shellfish to a temperature of 145 degrees. That will kill the bacteria.

So, should you or your loved ones avoid eating shellfish this holiday season?

"No, I wouldn't necessarily say that", says Levine, but he warns people with a high risk of developing an infection, or with liver disease to avoid undercooked or raw shellfish.

September may be a ‘R’ month but the Gulf of Mexico is still warm. I know. We’re still here. So is Vibrio vulnificus.

The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports the Florida Department of Health is warning heavy drinkers and people with liver damage to avoid eating raw oysters or exposing open wounds to still-warm Gulf and bay waters.

So far this year, six deaths from Vibrio vulnificus infection have been reported in Florida. The DOH has determined that at least two of the deaths were attributed to raw oyster consumption. Eight wound infections have been reported, but none were fatal.

Thoroughly cooking oysters — frying, stewing, or roasting them — eliminates harmful bacteria and viruses, says the DOH.
 

Risk comparisons can be risky: they usually offend the target audience and make the author sound like a jack-ass.

James Wesson, oyster scientist with the Virginia Marine Resource Commission, told the Daily Press that the overwhelming majority of oysters sold in the United States are not contaminated, adding,

"More people die each year from eating Cheetos than from eating oysters.”

No data was provided.

The comment was made as part of a story about Virginia regulators requiring stiffer rules to prevent the sale of contaminated oysters harvested from the Chesapeake Bay during warm-water months.

Each year about 15 people die from eating contaminated oysters, according to the agency. Most of the problem oysters come from the Gulf of Mexico, but at least one has been linked to Virginia waters since 2000, said Robert Croonenberghs, director of the state Health Department's shellfish sanitation division.

If the FDA finds another contaminated oyster sold by Virginia seafood suppliers, the agency could prohibit shipping raw oysters outside state lines, he said. Such a ban could stifle the industry and cause thousands of dollars in losses to suppliers, watermen, and oyster farmers.

The number of deaths may be statistically trivial – unless it happens to you or someone you know. And this risk can be managed.