Climate Fact: Seafood Safety
In the United States, the leading cause of seafood related stomach illness is a bacterium known as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can only survive in waters that are warmer than 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea surface temperatures are now the highest that they have been since at least the 1870′s, a phenomenon that has enabled the bacteria to expand its range. Between 1997 and 2004, at one oyster farm in Alaska, the water temperature rose by an average of 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit per year. This enabled the bacteria to become established 620 miles north of any previously known location of the disease, and resulted in food poisoning aboard a cruise ship.
Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
(Sources: McLaughlin, JB et al. “Outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Gastroenteritis Associated with Alaskan Oysters.” New England Journal of Medicine 353:1463-1470 (2006) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases. Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Accessed Online 27 April 2007 <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/vibrioparahaemolyticus_g.htm>)
