A Sick Chesapeake Bay Harbors Deadly Bacteria

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I appreciate Lawrence Latane's news article about my recent illness, "Watermen's Leader Treated for Infection." The only reason I knew to get to the emergency room as fast as I did was because another waterman told me his story. As soon as the chills and convulsion-like shaking started, I knew that I had contracted the infection. Every year I hear stories of the watermen who have been infected and I have no idea how many people using our waters recreationally are also infected.

It is my understanding that the estuary of the Chesapeake Bay has more outbreaks of vibrio vulnificus than anywhere else. It is also my understanding that more people die from this infection every year than people who die from shark attacks worldwide. If someone gets bitten by a shark in Florida, it gets national coverage by every newspaper and television station. Yet when we have something that will kill one just as dead, or limbs are amputated, we hear very little.

The Virginia watermen have been preaching about the degradation and health of the Chesapeake Bay for years. I hope this paper and Latane will continue to give coverage about vibrio vulnificus. It is something the public needs to know. Our natural resources are given constitutional protection under Article 11 of our Constitution. If enough people are informed about the health of the Bay and realize that they have a constitutional right to unpolluted water, then maybe they will demand those rights.

Ken Smith. Heathsville.