Fle. Chu et Rc. Hale, RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLLUTION AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INFECTIOUS-DISEASE IN THE EASTERN OYSTER, CRASSOSTREA-VIRGINICA, Marine environmental research, 38(4), 1994, pp. 243-256
Infectious disease epizootics seriously affect many populations of mar
ine organisms. Pollution has been hypothesized to contribute to some a
quatic epizootics, although this link has not been adequately examined
To further evaluate this hypothesis, the effect of a complex mixture
of sediment derived pollutants on the susceptibility of the eastern oy
ster, Crassostrea virginica, to an infectious disease was investigated
. The disease studied is caused by the protozoan parasite Perkinsus ma
rinus (Dermo) and results in significant oyster mortalities in the mid
-Atlantic region of the United States. Oysters were exposed to 0, 15 a
nd 30% dilutions of water soluble fractions, generated from sediments
collected from the Elizabeth River, a heavily, polluted subestuary of
the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Oysters were then challenged with P. marinus
meronts. Pollutant exposure enhanced preexisting P. marinus infections
and increased the oysters' susceptibility to experimentally induced i
nfection, in a dose-dependent manner.