Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 29, Number 8;   August, 2002

Monitoring Possible Botulism E Outbreak Along Lake Erie

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is monitoring a possible outbreak of Type E botulism in wildlife along the Lake Erie shoreline in Erie and Chautauqua counties. DEC fish and wildlife staff are aggressively monitoring the shores of Lake Erie and are determining if botulism is the cause of this die-off, DEC Regional Director Gerald Mikol said. In the meantime, we encourage the public to take precautionary steps to prevent potential exposure.

In the last two weeks, thousands of mudpuppies, an aquatic salamander, have washed up along the Lake Erie shoreline from the Pennsylvania border north into Erie County. Smaller numbers of fish, mainly sheepshead and small-mouth bass, and a few gulls have also washed up on shore. DEC has collected samples and sent them to a laboratory to confirm whether Type E botulism is the cause of death.

Type E botulism (Clostridium botulinum) first appeared in eastern Lake Erie in fall 2000, when several thousand water birds washed up on the shoreline. In 2001, DEC confirmed Type E botulism in several species of fish and waterfowl. There have been no reports of any human illness associated with past outbreaks. Type E botulism is a specific botulism strain most commonly affecting fish-eating birds. It is a paralytic, often fatal, disease in animals that results from the ingestion of the toxin produced by the botulism bacterium. This type of botulism can be harmful or even fatal to humans and other mammals if they consume birds or fish that have been poisoned by the toxin or the flesh of an infected animal. People are not at risk for botulism from swimming in Lake Erie waters.

Anyone with questions about water quality at specific beaches is encouraged to contact the local health department. Hunters and anglers should not harvest any waterfowl or fish that are sick, dying or acting abnormally. Cooking may not destroy the botulism toxin.