US: Oregon officials warn about paralytic shellfish poisoning from mussels

An outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) has sickened at least 20 people in the U.S. state of Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The people who have reported as sick were recreationally harvesting mussels on 25 May or 26 May at either Short Beach near Oceanside, at Hug Point, or at Seaside in Clatsop County. Some have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported.Individuals who harvested mussels from those areas should immediately discard them, the OHA has recommended. The recommendations only apply to mussels harvested by private individuals – not those harvested commercially and purchased in a grocery store or at a restaurant, Emilio DeBess, an epidemiologist at the Oregon Public Health Division’s Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Section, said.On 23 May, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) closed a stretch of Oregon’s coast to mussel harvesting from Seal Rock State Park ...