Vibrio - Small Creature...Deadly Punch
Warning! Scraping barnacles off your boat can be dangerous to your health, as can handling crabs, sharp edges of crab pots or scraping your shins on a dock. Vibrio or vibrio vulnificus for scientific purists is a particularly nasty germ that inhabits the waters of the Chesapeake. It can be passed to humans through eating raw shellfish, or through an open wound and exposure to it can result in the loss of a limb or death. According to the Center for Disease Control, the fatality rate if it gets into your bloodstream is approximately 50 percent. At least two Mallard Bay residents have had brushes with it, one of whom spent four days in the hospital as a result.
If you do experience an open wound, particularly one that has been contaminated with river mud, wash it immediately with hydrogen peroxide and, if during the next 24 hours, you experience swelling and pain, go immediately to a hospital emergency room, preferably one like Rappahannock Hospital in Kilmarnock, where they are familiar with the infection.
Copperhead Snakes
On the evening of August 28, 2008, a guest of a Mallard Bay resident killed a copperhead snake on the road opposite 14 Bufflehead Court and killed two more on Saturday, August 30 on the property at 283 Canvasback Lane. Speculation is that a logging operation in the vicinity drove the snakes in our direction.
Another Mallard Bay resident killed two copperheads the year before on her waterfront property on Canvasback Lane.
According to copperhead-snake.com, which contains a thorough description and photos of the snakes, their habitats, behavior and threat to humans and pets, "Copperhead snakes are pit vipers or crotalids; poisonous snakes that are named for the two heat sensing pits used to locate prey that are positioned between the eyes and the nostrils." The accompanying photo came from that website.
Joggers and people walking their dogs at night should be on the lookout.