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“Outbreaks of Perkinsosis usually occur with warm summer water temperatures above 20 C,” a British government fact sheet on the disease says. “Clinical signs may include pale digestive glands, gaping, shrinking of the mantle away from the outer edge of the shell and stunted growth.”

The CFIA news release said dermo “does not affect other bivalves in this area, including mussels, scallops or clams.”

Already dealing with MSX

News of the positive test results from Egmont Bay will be another blow to the Island’s oyster industry, which has been reeling from last July’s discovery of MSX, short for multinucleate sphere unknown.

That oyster disease was first detected in samples from P.E.I.’s Bedeque Bay, with more cases confirmed in other areas of the province in the months that followed. Like dermo, it affects only oysters and not the humans eating oysters from waters known to have MSX.

Bob MacLeod, the president of the P.E.I. Shellfish Association (shown in a photo from July 2024), said that the MSX outbreak discovered that month ‘has the potential to be a serious challenge for the industry.’ (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the parasite that causes dermo is easily transmitted among oysters, mostly when they are between one and three years of age.

“Mortality rates are variable but are typically 50 per cent to 75 per cent,” the agency says in a factsheet on its website.

CFIA has power to limit movement

In a statement to CBC News last month, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency acknowledged that it had been asked to test P.E.I. oyster samples for dermo, but said it had no results to share at that time.

The agency did go on to outline what would happen if the samples did test positive.

If a product in a PCZ [primary control zone] is deemed to be a potential risk, its movement would be controlled.— Canadian Food Inspection Agency

“To prevent the spread of dermo or any other animal diseases, the CFIA may establish a primary control zone (PCZ) in areas where a disease is suspected to occur,” the statement said.

That kind of move would let the agency control how oysters are handled and shipped within and outside the zone.

“For example, if a product in a PCZ is deemed to be a potential risk, its movement would be controlled; this means that a permit from the CFIA would be required to move this product within, through and outside of the PCZ,” the statement said.

“Any new PCZs would be posted as soon as possible on CFIA’s website. When a new PCZ is put in place, the CFIA also notifies its provincial partners, stakeholders, Indigenous communities and industry through pre-existing communications channels.”

Source: CBC News. Original article available here.