Bacteria

Ray Bahr ought to be taking it easy. He's 75 and retired after a successful career as a cardiologist. Instead, the Canton resident finds himself prowling alleys in East Baltimore on the lookout for illegally dumped trash and goading city officials to clean up mini-landfills in back of abandoned houses. Now, the physician — who once helped launch a national movement to treat chest pain before it can lead to fatal attacks — has another sick patient, another crusade. He wants to help heal the watery heart of Baltimore — its harbor — and in the process perhaps bring a fractured city a little closer together.

High temperatures and pollution have made conditions ripe for potentially dangerous bacteria carried in Chesapeake Bay waters, leading state and local health officials to warn swimmers, fishermen and shellfish eaters to take precautions. The naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as nasty skin infections — and sometimes can kill. So far this year, 24 Maryland cases of vibrio have been recorded, close to the average annual count of 30, but the season is far from over and officials say many cases likely go unreported.

Anne Arundel County health officials warned Wednesday against swimming, wading or jet-skiing at Venice on the Bay beach in Pasadena after tests found unsafe bacteria levels in the water. The county issued the warning after finding high levels of potentially disease-causing bacteria Friday and Wednesday in water samples taken at the Patapsco River beach. Bacteria levels can increase after heavy rains wash pollution off the land, but officials noted that other factors, including waste from waterfowl, water temperatures and tidal action can also elevate bacteria readings.

Barbie Hall had tried yogurt boosted with probiotics, those so-called friendly microorganisms that commercials promised would regulate her digestive system within weeks. They did no such thing. After excessive Googling, she searched for a probiotic supplement, but she had little preference about which one — she bought the cheapest jar in the vitamin aisle of her local CVS. Two months later, Hall is convinced the once-a-day pill has cured her chronic stomach pain and irregularity.

State officials announced Friday that they had fined an Eastern Shore farm couple $4,000 for improperly piling sewage sludge near a drainage ditch. But the Department of the Environment declared it had closed its investigation of the Hudson farm in Berlin with no further action because its inspectors could not say the farm was responsible for pollution found in the ditches draining its land. State inspectors had detected high levels of bacteria and nutrients in the ditches, which ultimately drain into the Pocomoke River.

Barry Marseglia of Solomons writes: "I've been catching rockfish in the mid-bay region with red sores and red rashes all over the skin. These sores have an odor. Also, in the Calvert Cliffs area, I've caught rockfish with a yellow tint. ... If there is a problem on the skin of the fish, it seems to me it's also in the cells or the flesh of the fish." Mark Matsche, a fish health biologist at the Cooperative Oxford Lab, replies: "Some striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay have a bacterial disease called Mycobacteriosis.

The same pollution afflicting the Chesapeake Bay's fish and shellfish poses human health risks to people in the region, from bacteria and harmful algae in the water to contaminants in fish and drinking water, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says. In a report released today, the Annapolis-based environmental group said the incidents of infection and illness among people who swim and wade in the bay's waters warrant greater government action to protect the public from pollution. "Dirty water doesn't only have an economic impact, it's got a human health impact as well," said William C. Baker, foundation president.

A three-year, $100 million effort to cut levels of nutrients coming from Howard County's wastewater treatment plant in Savage got under way Thursday with a ceremonial groundbreaking. More than five years in the planning, the project will use waste from a nearby ice cream plant to help produce enough bacteria to sharply reduce the nitrogen being emitted with wastewater from 3,900 pounds a day now, to 830 pounds per day in 2012, when the work is completed. Reuse of some treated water will also help by diverting it from the Patuxent River.