Toxic bacteria outbreak sparks warnings on Mississippi coast

| Back | Text Size:

https://development.triblive.com/news/world/toxic-bacteria-outbreak-sparks-warnings-on-mississippi-coast/

Toxic bacteria outbreak sparks warnings on Mississippi coast

Samson X Horne | Friday, June 28, 2019 9:34 p.m.

FILE- In this May 10, 2019 file photo, workers open bays of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, to divert rising water from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, upriver from New Orleans, in Norco, La. Floodwaters carried down from the Midwest are killing oysters and driving crabs, shrimp and finfish out of Louisiana and Mississippi bays and marshes to saltier waters. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

People along the Mississippi coastline are being warned not to swim or eat seafood.

USA Today reports that the warning is in response to an outbreak of toxic bacteria known as cyanobacterium.

Residents have been advised to avoid water that has a greenish-blue hue, which is said to cause rashes, diarrhea and vomiting.

Officials closed nine beaches in two of the state’s three coastal counties.

People also shouldn’t allow their pets near that area.

As toxic bacteria grow in Gulf waters, so does the list of beach closures. We have the latest from @MDEQ, and we wade into the debate over vaping on Mississippi Edition - online and on demand at https://t.co/jUVoRBKPkZ pic.twitter.com/PbzwZKPl0O

— MPB News (@MPBNews) June 28, 2019

A spokesman from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources says the cause is fresh water entering the Mississippi Sound from the New Orleans spillway, USA Today reported.

That system has been open for a historically long time to relieve pressure on levees from the flooded Mississippi River.

The fresh water influx is creating a dead zone without oxygen where marine life can’t survive, according to USA Today.

Email Newsletters