Health Officials Issue Raw Oyster Warning
Associated Press
Officials at the D.C. Department of Health are warning residents about Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with hepatitis A.
Officials said 29 people in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have contracted the illness within a month of eating raw oysters from the same Louisiana shellfish dealer.
Investigators think the shellfish growing area was contaminated by discharge from a boat. The Alabama shellfish dealer that sold the infected oysters has issued a recall.
However, the contaminated oysters aren't a danger anymore because their consumption date is long past, according to health officials. They said more shellfish from the infected bed will not reach the market either, because Hurricane Katrina has closed all of Louisiana's shellfish growing areas.
