The Bay Page #5

There we go.

Let's just cool off a little.

Oh, my God.

Alex, Alex, Alex.

- The camera. Put me down.

- Oh, the camera, the camera.

- A**hole.

- Ouch!

(laughing)

- Serves you right.

- Wow.

(spits)

Wow, it tastes...

How does it feel in there?

(coughs)

Some went in my mouth.

- Oh, you're coming in at some point.

- Looks so good.

You know that,

don't you?

Look at you, up there

on your high boat.

Jacqueline:
About a hundred years ago,

the sea floor was entirely grass bed,

with enough oysters to

self-clean about every four days.

Today, the bay

is 40% dead zone.

There's nothing here.

Sam:
Wait, I don't understand.

Are you saying that 40%

- of the bay is a dead zone?

- Is good? Is okay?

No, no. It's not clear

that 40% is dead.

(P.A. System chattering)

Dr. Abrams.

The CDC

is on the line.

They're on right now?

Can you get somebody

to get an orderly?

Get that guy out

of the hall.

Put him in 104.

Well? Well?

Uh, yeah. You said

that you have 30 of these...

I have about 60 people

with some kind of blister

and lesion outbreak.

- I have wart overgrowth...

- Excuse me, you said now you have 60 cases?

I just saw three people

with their tongues half gone.

Okay, that's a lot

of information.

Did you administer methicillin

to the lesion victims?

Abrams:
Of course I gave them

methicillin. It had no response.

- What do you mean?

- 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

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.

- (thunder crashes)

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.

(Jacqueline gasps)

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?

- (gasps)

- 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 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.

(groans)

Look at this.

All these isopods

are eating this fish alive.

I don't understand this.

This doesn't make

any sense.

Man:
What is it?

(groaning)

It aches.

The pain in my...

there's something

really wrong.

Help me.

(panicked chattering)

Girl:

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.

Jennifer:

They need help.

(all clamoring)

(loud thump)

Did... did you just

hear that?

Look.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Look.

- Somebody help me!

- Jennifer:
Please, please. Somebody.

Woman:
They were just

there for a car show.

Within 24 hours,

he got ill.

And they said with

this parasite,

that is what happens.

Reporter:
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.

Reporter:
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, 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.

- Alex:
Hey, Stephanie.

- What?

Stephanie's mother: And there is

something else I want you to know.

Alex:
Look at this

boat. It's just adrift.

- Alex:
Grab this camera.

- I have lesions.

Stephanie's mother: I think a lot

of people here are not gonna make it.

I'm gonna come up over...

here it comes.

But remember,

I love you,

and I will try

to call again.

Alex:

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.

CDC operator:

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,

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