60
CARL J . SISDERMANN
likely that other heterophyid metacercariae from estuarine and inshore
fish may occasionally infest man. Larval tapeworms, Diplogonoporus
grandis (Blanchard), infective to man, occur in marine fishes of Japan.
Larval Diphyllobothriunt lntum infest pike and turbot in brackish
waters of the Baltic Sea (Engelbrecht, 1958), and are dangerous
parasites of man.
Among the human illnesses associated with infectious agents of
marine fish origin are severe inflammations of superficial wounds
among fish handlers due to the bacterium Erysipelothrix insidiosa
(Trevisan) as described by Sheard and Dicks (1949), Wellman (1950,
1957) and Langford and Hansen (1954). Processing plant employees
may be temporarily incapacitated by these infections, which are
particularly common after injury by spines of such fish as sea robins
or redfish. The causative organism has been isolated repeatedly from
fish slime (Sneath et al., 1951 ; Price and Bennett, 1951). Oppenheimer
and Kesteven (1953) and Wellmann (1957) found that known strains
of the bacterium grew well in sea water medium.
Recent studies in Japan (Aiso and Matsuno, 1961 ; Sakazaki et al.,
1963) have implicated the ingestion of raw marine fishes from inshore
waters in summer outbreaks of human digestive disturbances. The
causative agent has been identified as Vibrio parahemolyticus (Fujino).
Although not recognized as pathogenic to fish, the organism has been
isolated from the body surfaces and digestive tracts of live fish immediately after capture. It does not seem unlikely that increasing conditions of estuarine and inshore pollution could lead to an increasing
role of inshore fishes in transfer of human pathogens. As long as raw
marine products from inshore waters are eaten by humans, the possibility of disease transmission, either mechanically or as a result of
multiplication of a pathogen within the marine host, must be
recognized. Glantz and Krantz (1965) have used serotyping of
Escherichia coli to show a relationship between bacterial isolates from
fish and pollution of water. Bacteria of human origin were retained
in the digestive tract of fish for short periods, but experimental studies
disclosed no illness in fish fed on E. coli serotypes pathogenic to man.
X. FUTURE STUDIES OF MARINE FISH DISEASES
Because of the complexity and enormity of the marine ecosystem,
disease problems in fish are difficult to approach. As with other marine
problems, it is likely that greatest advances will be made when descriptive studies can be combined with experimentation in circumscribed
bodies of water such as aquaria, salt ponds, and artificially restricted
estuaries and other arms of the sea. The recent demonstration of
CARL J . SISDERMANN
likely that other heterophyid metacercariae from estuarine and inshore
fish may occasionally infest man. Larval tapeworms, Diplogonoporus
grandis (Blanchard), infective to man, occur in marine fishes of Japan.
Larval Diphyllobothriunt lntum infest pike and turbot in brackish
waters of the Baltic Sea (Engelbrecht, 1958), and are dangerous
parasites of man.
Among the human illnesses associated with infectious agents of
marine fish origin are severe inflammations of superficial wounds
among fish handlers due to the bacterium Erysipelothrix insidiosa
(Trevisan) as described by Sheard and Dicks (1949), Wellman (1950,
1957) and Langford and Hansen (1954). Processing plant employees
may be temporarily incapacitated by these infections, which are
particularly common after injury by spines of such fish as sea robins
or redfish. The causative organism has been isolated repeatedly from
fish slime (Sneath et al., 1951 ; Price and Bennett, 1951). Oppenheimer
and Kesteven (1953) and Wellmann (1957) found that known strains
of the bacterium grew well in sea water medium.
Recent studies in Japan (Aiso and Matsuno, 1961 ; Sakazaki et al.,
1963) have implicated the ingestion of raw marine fishes from inshore
waters in summer outbreaks of human digestive disturbances. The
causative agent has been identified as Vibrio parahemolyticus (Fujino).
Although not recognized as pathogenic to fish, the organism has been
isolated from the body surfaces and digestive tracts of live fish immediately after capture. It does not seem unlikely that increasing conditions of estuarine and inshore pollution could lead to an increasing
role of inshore fishes in transfer of human pathogens. As long as raw
marine products from inshore waters are eaten by humans, the possibility of disease transmission, either mechanically or as a result of
multiplication of a pathogen within the marine host, must be
recognized. Glantz and Krantz (1965) have used serotyping of
Escherichia coli to show a relationship between bacterial isolates from
fish and pollution of water. Bacteria of human origin were retained
in the digestive tract of fish for short periods, but experimental studies
disclosed no illness in fish fed on E. coli serotypes pathogenic to man.
X. FUTURE STUDIES OF MARINE FISH DISEASES
Because of the complexity and enormity of the marine ecosystem,
disease problems in fish are difficult to approach. As with other marine
problems, it is likely that greatest advances will be made when descriptive studies can be combined with experimentation in circumscribed
bodies of water such as aquaria, salt ponds, and artificially restricted
estuaries and other arms of the sea. The recent demonstration of