Canada: Detections of MSX parasite in remote Prince Edward Island bays means hopes of containment are increasingly unlikely

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency say MSX, a disease that could mean heavy losses for the province’s world-renowned oyster industry, has likely spread to bays across P.E.I., including some that have no link to the site of its original detection. Speaking before a legislative standing committee on Oct. 3, Danielle Williams, a regional veterinary officer with the CFIA, said it appears increasingly likely the parasite has no single point of origin where it was introduced to P.E.I. bays. The parasite has recently been detected in waters near Tryon, an area where few people fish. Seventy-nine of 81 oysters that were tested from that bay were positive, Williams said. “It’s kind of telling when you have these areas that have no direct link to the first outbreak, that we’re not dealing with something that came into one particular spot and spread out,” Williams told members of P.E.I.'s standing committee on natural resources and environmental ...