STDs Under the Sea
August 13, 2010 - by Molly MannMy goal for this post is to avoid all the tasteless jokes I really want to make, because this is a serious issue.
:D
:-X
National Geographic reports that oysters -- those aquatic aphrodisiacs -- are contracting, and dying from, herpes. The virus, which seems only to infect the Pacific variety of oysters, is ravaging populations near the English coast.
According to National Geographic, this epidemic is the result of global warming. This particular herpes strain is only active in waters above a certain temperature, so warmer oceans provide ample breeding ground. It was first detected in France in 2008 and is deadlier than previously detected strains of the virus because it attacks young oysters in their breeding phase when their immune defenses are low. Ocean acidification, another side effect of global warming, also weakens mollusks' immune systems.
Oysters having herpes is yet another wild and unexpected result of rising ocean temperatures from global warming. And then there are the crabs....
