DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030684

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   72 lines

OFFICIALS NOT BUDGING ON CLOSING RIVERS DESPITE RECENT ILLNESSES

Virginia public health officials acknowledge they are examining seven cases involving three rivers where a fish-killing microbe might be linked to human illness.

But State Health Commissioner Randolph L. Gordon said Thursday that preliminary tests to determine whether a link exists won't be completed for at least a week - and that there are no plans to take any preventive steps in the meantime.

And Gordon, through an agency spokeswoman, later declined to even name the waterways where the seven may have contracted symptoms linked to Pfiesteria piscicida, a deadly one-celled organism responsible for killing thousands of fish in Maryland and North Carolina and an estimated 2,000 fish in Virginia.

``This is a medical investigation and it is confidential,'' spokeswoman Deborah R. Kallgren said.

Gordon called a news conference Thursday to assuage public fears about pfiesteria's potential threat.

The conference followed news reports that a Virginia Marine Resources Commission employee had been diagnosed last week with lesions and other symptoms linked to the organism after wading into the Pocomoke River.

Asked about his condition and how he got sick, the employee refused comment, saying the agency told him to refer journalists to the agency's spokesman.

But the doctor who treated the worker told The Associated Press that the employee's short-term memory loss and the dozen lesions found on his body are evidence enough that the state should follow Maryland's lead and close more waterways.

``We know that you can get sick, and others will likely be sick if they come into contact with the pfiesteria toxin,'' said Dr. Ritchie C. Shoemaker, a Pocomoke City, Md., physician who has treated other patients for problems associated with pfiesteria. Virginia ``needs to stop denying that there is a problem,'' he said.

Virginia's health commissioner pointed out that the state has not experienced the fish kills neighboring states have. And, he said, scientists have yet to uncover evidence that the microbe is releasing toxins into local waters, including the Pocomoke.

State officials already have cooperated with Maryland authorities by closing off the Virginia section of the Pocomoke River to fishing and recreation.

And today, a Virginia task force studying the microbe will convene at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point - and follow the meeting with a fish fry designed to show confidence in local seafood.

But it's unclear how far words and fish fries will go to calm fears when, even by Gordon's own admission, many questions remain unanswered.

The public already has demonstrated its concern by shunning Chesapeake Bay seafood. The state has gotten dozens of calls from people worried they might have contracted a pfiesteria-related illness. And state employees have been urged to wear boots, gloves, foul weather gear, goggles and respirators with carbon filters when entering waterways that have been the site of fish kills or have a high percentage of fish with lesions.

Virginia has refused to close the Rappahannock River, despite the discovery there of fish with pfiesteria-like sores. Gordon said the seven potential pfiesteria cases is a relatively low number considering how many people have come in contact with Rappahannock, Great Wicomico and Pocomoke rivers. Gordon declined to say whether the employee, whose name was withheld, was counted among the seven cases. Nor would he divulge any information about any specific case.

But he balked at the idea of widespread river closings when he hasn't been convinced that the data support further harm to one of the state's most valuable resources.

Closing rivers ``does have a price because there are millions who depend on (the water for) livelihood,'' he said. ``And it does have a price in terms of people might begin to think that some rivers are safe and some rivers are not, and it instills a false sense of security.'' KEYWORDS: PFIESTERIA

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