Health officials launched an investigation to unravel the source of a mysterious bacterial infection that has afflicted commercial fishermen and swimmers in recent months.
\nFlorida’s and Volusia County’s health departments say the fishermen are most likely catching the infection through person-to-person contact, and are downplaying any role the ocean might play in the spread of the disease. <\/P><\/p>\n
The infection is known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and causes painful and contagious crater-like lesions that start as small blisters and can expand to the size of silver dollars within days. <\/P><\/p>\n
About 16 people, mostly Port Orange commercial fishermen, have been hospitalized with the infection in Volusia County, according to doctors, commercial fishermen, fleet owners and others. <\/P><\/p>\n
The bacterial infection also appears to have infected commercial fishermen on the Gulf Coast, and in the Bahamas and Key West, said Bob Jones, executive director of Southeast Fisheries Association, a Tallahassee-based group that represents fishermen in six states. <\/P><\/p>\n
Bacterial infections are common among commercial fishermen and others who handle fish. <\/P><\/p>\n
“It certainly doesn’t look like a public-health hazard at this point, and it doesn’t look like this is coming from the ocean,” said Dr. Howard Rodenberg, who heads the Volusia health department. <\/P>
\n
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