>MA>Please, for the sake of all us raw oyster and/or other assorted >MA>seviche eaters, correct me if I'm wrong. >x >Me too. On the *very* rare occasions when I can afford them, I love >raw oysters. I've been assuming the lemon juice and peppers or >whatever (oysters combine phenomenally well with the flavor of >serranos) would kill most of whatever was problematical; >if that isn't true, I'd like to know. Forgive me if this article is too long; it is from the Health Journal column of the Wall Street Journal, by Marilyn Chase. ===begin quoted article "Eating Raw Shellfish Is Risky for Everyone But Lethal for Some." If your idea of the perfect Valentine's Day supper involves oysters and champagne, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may cool your enthusiasm. A recent CDC investigation described an outbreak of the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus from shellfish harvested in New York waters. Two dozen people were sickened, briefly closing Long Island oyster beds last autumn. Since 1997, the bacteria in raw shellfish have been blamed for 700 cases of gastroenteritis, including the illnesses of 416 people who ate Galveston Bay, Texas, oysters last summer. The bacteria - natural marine inhabitants - inflict nausea and diarrhea on unwary diners. But however miserable, they aren't nearly as deadly as a related kind, Vibrio vulnificus. Shellfish tainted with V. vulnificus can kill people with liver disease or weakened immune systems - prompting a citizens' petition before the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the hazard. [ ... ] "Consumers shouldn't eat raw or undercooked oysters or clams if they don't want to get sick," [CDC] Dr. Farzad Mostashari says flatly. Any illness within four days of eating raw shellfish should trigger a call to the doctor and a lab culture, he says. A Long Island outbreak of 23 cases of V. parahaemolyticus caused no deaths. But the CDC team was disturbed to find people with liver problems who had no idea they should avoid raw seafood....Between 12 million and 30 million consumers run a special risk of shellfish poisoning, the FDA estimates, because of alcohol-related liver disease, diabetes, the metabolic disorder hemochromatosis, chronic hepatitis B and C, and depressed immunity. Popular acid-blocking drugs, which remove a natural barriar against food poisoning, may also heighten vulnerability to tainted shellfish, says Bruce Faber, North Shore's infectious diseases cheif. === end quote The article also goes on to say that warm-water shellfish from the Gulf and from oyster beds where the water remains too warm in the fall (Long Island Sound waters were at an unusually warm 77 degrees last fall when the outbreak forced the closing of the beds) are the riskiest. The FDA is reviewing data on low-temperature pasteurization, freezing, and high-pressure treatment of shellfish to combat the Vibrio bacteria. Nothing was said in the article about capsaicin's effect. The bottom line is still: You have to make up your own mind and weigh the risks. I personally wouldn't be worried about coldwater oysters, though. === Dave Sacerdote davesas@ntplx.net Resist or Serve. "I am so mighty, I do not have to kill you all." -- Flaming Carrot Visit Dave's New England Almanac at http://www.ntplx.net/~davesas/