By James Kirley
staff writer
October 6, 2005
VERO BEACH — A local restaurant is one of four eateries in Florida that was shipped contaminated oysters from
Louisiana in July that public health officials now say caused at least 16 cases of hepatitis A reported by doctors throughout September.
Investigators traced the viral liver disease to oysters eaten raw at Mr. Manatee’s Casual Grill in Vero Beach and other restaurants in Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers Beach, according to Doc Kokol, communications director at the Florida Department of Health. He stressed that the source of infection was the oysters, not sanitation problems in the restaurants.
The batch of contaminated oysters is gone from the market, said Cheryl Dunn, Indian River County environmental health manager.

“It’s my understanding those oyster beds are now closed,” she said.
State law says raw oysters must be sold within two weeks of harvest. Dunn said the Gulf of Mexico oyster beds were closed after Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana coast Aug. 29.
“The oysters were harvested from an area that was contaminated somehow with fecal contamination,” Dunn said.
The time between infection by the hepatitis A virus and onset of symptoms is 15 to 50 days, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms may include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine and yellowing of the skin and eyes. However, most hepatitis A infections cause no symptoms.
There is no long-term infection, but about 15 percent of victims have prolonged or relapsing symptoms over a six- to nine-month period.
Dunn said first local reports began arriving at the county Health Department in early September. Five were traced to eating oysters served at the local restaurant, but three more people caught the virus from sharing households with some of those people.
Glenn Schuessler, county environmental supervisor and lead investigator in the case, said one local person was hospitalized.
Tuesdays are 29 cent oyster night at Mr. Manatee’s. But no raw oysters were sold Tuesday, said Michele Wygand, a manager at the restaurant, and raw oysters are off the menu for now.
“The government closed the (oyster) beds in Texas and Louisiana,” Wygand said. “They have one open in Alabama, but we’re not taking the chance.”
Tim Keegan, also a Mr. Manatee’s manager, said state inspectors visited Sept. 2, 6 and 8.
“They found out where it (the contamination) came from,” Keegan said. “It wasn’t from us.”
At least one Vero Beach victim has contacted the Seattle, Wash., law firm of Marler Clark. It specializes in foodborne illness outbreaks and became well known after a large 2003 outbreak of hepatitis A in Pennsylvania.
Dunn said the oysters would not have made people sick had they been cooked. And she said hepatitis A is especially dangerous to people with some pre-existing medical conditions.
“If people are immunocompromised or have liver disease, they shouldn’t be eating raw oysters,” Dunn said.
– jim.kirley@scripps.com