One summer day two years ago, Danny and Laura Jenkins’ black Labrador
retriever, Casey, returned from a swim in Ohio's Grand Lake St. Marys
carpeted in thick green slime and reeking. Danny Jenkins washed the dog
off and, at some point, got some of the gunk in his left eye.
A few weeks later, Danny Jenkins found himself in the hospital, unable to feel his left side and with ulcers in his eye, slurred speech, stomach problems and more, according to his wife. At home, Casey began staggering and walking sideways. The dog’s eyes turned yellow. On the day Danny Jenkins came home from the hospital, still ill, Casey died.
The scum that had coated Casey during his swim turned out to be blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. Later tests of the lake detected liver toxins and neurotoxins produced by various cyanobacteria. Casey was buried before any diagnostic tests could be done, but the doctor who treated Danny Jenkins thought his symptoms came from the algal toxins he was exposed to while washing his dog.
"The conclusion was he had encephalitis from algae bloom toxin," said Dr. Wilfred Ellis of Lima, Ohio.
Two years later, after months of physical therapy and disability, Danny Jenkins is back working full time, but he’s still paying his medical bills, tires easily and often forgets things. “He’s not himself,” Laura Jenkins said.
Read more: http://cironline.org/reports/summer-toxic-blue-green-algae-blooms-plague-freshwater-3817
A few weeks later, Danny Jenkins found himself in the hospital, unable to feel his left side and with ulcers in his eye, slurred speech, stomach problems and more, according to his wife. At home, Casey began staggering and walking sideways. The dog’s eyes turned yellow. On the day Danny Jenkins came home from the hospital, still ill, Casey died.
The scum that had coated Casey during his swim turned out to be blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. Later tests of the lake detected liver toxins and neurotoxins produced by various cyanobacteria. Casey was buried before any diagnostic tests could be done, but the doctor who treated Danny Jenkins thought his symptoms came from the algal toxins he was exposed to while washing his dog.
"The conclusion was he had encephalitis from algae bloom toxin," said Dr. Wilfred Ellis of Lima, Ohio.
Two years later, after months of physical therapy and disability, Danny Jenkins is back working full time, but he’s still paying his medical bills, tires easily and often forgets things. “He’s not himself,” Laura Jenkins said.
Read more: http://cironline.org/reports/summer-toxic-blue-green-algae-blooms-plague-freshwater-3817
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