Menhaden: Most Important Fish in the Bay Page #5

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- It kept spreading.

- In how many cases?

- In all of the cases.

Okay, that's important.

Yeah, I know that's important

because they still have

spreading lesions.

Do you have any

new information for me?

Not at this time.

This could be

any number of things.

It could be fungal

or bacterial.

- Fungal?

- We had a tropical fungus outbreak

last year in Vancouver.

Spread in about

three hours, actually.

Vancouver?

Three hours?

Yeah.

With, uh, about 30...

we lost... about 30

people died, I think.

But it was just the fact that

we hadn't seen it in

the northern hemisphere before.

Now, I did wanna ask you.

Did you say that you had people

with half their tongues gone?

Uh, yeah. Hold on.

You didn't get pictures?

Did you send those pictures

to the CDC?

You did?

You should have an attachment

with pictures we sent you.

Do you have them?

Okay.

Okay, we're coming to you

from the straits at Claridge,

where we think we have found...

dun-dun-dun...

the culprit.

Let's go take a look inside

the laboratory here.

See what we got.

As you can see here,

we have these parasites

that seem to have latched

onto the gills.

Oh, my God.

- This is disgusting.

- Right here.

You get it?

There.

This is called

an isopod right here.

It's one of the world's

oldest creatures.

Dates back from the

Carboniferous period.

Here.

- Look at that.

- What is that?

Look at that.

It ate right through

the fish's tongue.

This is enormous.

Do you think

this is an anomaly?

Do I think it's...

"omelee"? What?

No, do you think it's normal?

Oh, anomaly.

- I don't know.

- It's huge.

I think it's... it must be

some kind of mutated version.

Isopods shouldn't even

be in the brackish water.

This is a huge one.

Look at this.

All these isopods

are eating this fish alive.

I don't understand this.

This doesn't make any sense.

What is it?

It aches.

The pain in my...

there's something really wrong.

Help me.

What's happening?

I think... I think

you need to see this.

- What's that noise?

- Look how many people are here.

- Oh, my God.

- Look at this.

- Look.

- What's wrong with everyone?

- Look at all these people.

- That's Mr. Long.

They need help.

Did... did you just

hear that?

Look.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Look.

- Somebody help me!

- Please, please. Somebody.

They were just

there for a car show.

Within 24 hours, he got ill.

And they said with

this parasite,

that is what happens.

Only his feet

touched the water,

but a short time later,

he became sick.

Doctors say he

was infected by a bacteria

called Vibrio vulnificus.

If he'd survived,

he would've lost

his arms and legs.

When walking through brackish

water or at the beach,

if you get a cut, don't just

think it's gonna go away.

You have to seek medical

attention immediately

if it starts to turn red or

you start to feel really bad.

The Vibrio vulnificus bacteria

can lead to heart failure,

loss of limbs, or death.

All right, this is the leg

of a man treated today

at Atlantic Hospital

in Maryland.

This is the IR slide

of the same infection.

Notice the bruising

below the skin.

It looks like

Vibrio vulnificus.

Now, it's a bit different than

the normal symptoms of a vibrio

or a Cryptosporidium outbreak.

And we got people up there

with their tongues half gone.

So, what have

we got here, people?

Stephanie?

Stephanie, where are you? You're

not answering your phone.

I've been trying to reach you.

I'm at the hospital.

Your dad is at the hospital.

They're taking him in. He has

some kind of very bad infection.

And I think they're going

to amputate his leg.

It's crazy here.

I mean, really crazy here.

So the most important thing

is to know

that I do not want you

to get off that boat.

Do you hear me, Stephanie?

Don't get off the boat.

- Hey, Stephanie.

- What?

Come up here

for a minute, will ya?

And there is

something else I want you to know.

Look at this boat.

It's just adrift.

I think I need to tell you.

- Grab this camera.

- I have lesions.

Grab the camera...

I think a lot of

people here are not gonna make it.

...and film it

off the side.

I'm gonna come up over...

here it comes.

But remember, I love you,

and I will try to call again.

There's nobody in it.

Hey, you see anyone

in the water?

I don't think we can rule out

a food-borne virus

or anything airborne,

but this looks

like a water vector.

I agree. The blistering

looks like echinococcosis.

The lesions could be

Mycobacterium marinum

or schistosomiasis.

I mean, Jesus, there could

be cholera in there.

Yeah, but I don't see

it spreading this fast.

If the water's being polluted

with anything chemical

on top of the bacteria,

we could easily

be looking at

a new form evolve.

Maybe a fungal bacteria,

maybe a mutated tapeworm.

Who knows?

I need labs back in two.

I need labs back in two. I need

Prolix and I need morphine.

- Somebody call Materials Management...

- Dr. Abrams.

- I need 4x8...

- Dr. Abrams.

- What?

- It's the fellow you amputated.

- What about him?

- It's on the other leg.

- What?

- It's on the other leg.

Christ.

I need morphine in two

and I need labs back.

I need labs back STAT.

I have EPA on the line.

What the hell's going on

at the Chesapeake Bay?

What are you talking about?

Is there anything in there

that could cause disease,

bacterial outbreak,

or mutations?

Well, the bay has been

found to have pollutants,

algae, agricultural runoff,

chicken excrement, um...

Go on.

There was a small leak from

a nuclear reactor in 2002.

- God damn it.

- But we weren't expecting it to hit the bay

till 2014.

But it is coming

through the ground,

so it could've hit earlier.

Are people drinking this water?

Of course not. The bay is brackish.

You can't drink it.

There is a level of seepage

into local wells

and of course the desalination

plant in Claridge.

With that desalination plant,

we have increased the capacity

for poultry farming

in the area.

Those chickens drink about

I think the NEF said it was

so there could be radium

or tritium in there.

...endocrine

disruptors, pharmaceuticals...

Algae, agricultural

runoff, chicken excrement...

There was a small leak from

a nuclear reactor in 2002...

And you don't warn anyone?

Well, it's not under

our regulations

to test for

radioactivity levels in water.

Look... half the water in America

probably has some leaks in it.

Don't you regulate the water?

The filtered water has met

all regulatory standards.

- That dome over there...

- 5 million pounds of chicken sh*t

dumped into the bay each year.

This is the best darn water

I've ever tasted.

What are you doing?

Let's go back this way.

- Just hold on.

- What are you doing?

I can't...

I'm burning up.

Let me just put

some water on my face.

Jesus.

That's my cameraman, Jim Hoyt.

- Hey, Katie Couric.

- Um...

Can you just chill

the f*** out for two seconds?

I think that's the only time

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