# Eating bad raw oysters will do that to you?! Horrific TMI stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721 "2004-11-14T17:20:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/1 "2004-11-14T17:20:01Z")
Christ… I had no idea! [Fla. Man Dies, Another Critical After Eating Raw Oysters](http://www.local6.com/news/3916828/detail.html) > [@](#): > > PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Two Florida Panhandle men were infected with a deadly bacteria after eating raw oysters in the last two weeks, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition. > > Dennis Sharron, 39, of Wewahitchka, died Nov. 5, six days after he ate raw oysters with friends, his family said. Doctors had amputated both of his legs in an attempt to save his life. > > Sharron was diagnosed with an infection stemming from vibrio vulnificus – a saltwater-dwelling bacterium that causes infection in the blood or skin when ingested. > > The same day Sharron died, 45-year-old James Palmer ate raw oysters, his family said. He was hospitalized Nov. 10 and diagnosed with the same infection. > > Palmer, of Panama City, was in critical but stable condition at Bay Medical Center, said his niece, Betty Barnes. His right leg has been amputated. The hospital wouldn’t release his condition Saturday. > > It wasn’t clear whether either man ate the oysters in a restaurant or got them from another vendor. > > Sharron’s mother, Helen Sharron, took her son to the hospital. > > “Both of his feet were red and swelled up, and he had black splotches above that,” Helen Sharron said. “I … watched the splotches come up his legs, and his legs were so swelled up so bad they looked like they were going to bust.” > > Thoroughly cooking oysters will destroy the vibrio vulnificus bacteria, according to the CDC. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/2 "2004-11-14T17:33:49Z")
More than you ever wanted to know [http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/vibriovulnificus\_g.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/vibriovulnificus_g.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/3 "2004-11-14T17:38:55Z")
Life. Nobody gets out alive. Sometimes things like raw oysters are worth a little risk. But keep the doxycycline handy. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/4 "2004-11-14T19:55:15Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > But keep the doxycycline handy. Oh, sure, until all of a sudden you’re projectile vomiting everything you even so much as _smell_, and you’ve got a beautiful bright-red rash around your eyes that makes you look like a racoon, and you’re trying to convince your MD over the phone that no, this was NOT a good idea to try out. Then it’s not so smart to keep the doxy handy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/5 "2004-11-14T20:10:58Z")
I think that’s vibrio vulnificus. There are several cases along the southern coastal areas every year. Most cases occur in people who are ill already with liver or immunity related diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/6 "2004-11-14T20:12:28Z")
This is interesting. I think this explains why we Europeans don’t eat oysters or other shellfish in the summer months (the rule, is that a month without an ‘R’ in the name means shellfish are off-limits). The report says that the bacterium normally lives in warm seawater, so probably only the summer months are warm enough here in Europe. That would explain the ‘R’ rule, which I never quite understood. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/7 "2004-11-14T21:18:42Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > I think this explains why we Europeans don’t eat oysters or other shellfish in the summer months… Partially. In the summer, you also get [‘red tide’](http://www.mass.gov/dph/fpp/redtide.htm) algal blooms of the dinoflagellate that produces saxitoxin. That raises the possibility of dying from [Paralytic shellfish poisoning](http://www.aims.gov.au/arnat/arnat-0008.htm). ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/8 "2004-11-15T00:14:33Z")
Always thought the reason the “R” legend surfaced was that oysters spawned in the warmer months. Supposedly their taste and texture is quite different, read:substandard, during these months. It should follow that if these are indeed spawning months, it’s best to leave the oysters to do their thing, thereby ensuring more and better oysters down the road, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/9 "2004-11-15T01:42:15Z")
Well, if they only ate raw Rocky Mountain Oysters … ---
**Author:** ![Mirasawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mirasawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirasawa)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/10 "2004-11-15T03:11:59Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Well, if they only ate raw Rocky Mountain Oysters … It would probably be safer than eating a filter-feeder raw. I mean, yuck! I’ve had raw oysters before, and I dont’ think the taste is worth the risk. What kind of an effete snob thinks eating raw oysters is such a good idea? How about grabbing a catfish out of the bottom of a river and sucking its guts out raw? People are so goddam stupid. Put some tabasco on it to kill the worms. Yeah right, make the worms angry so they burrow into your brain instead of infesting your colon. \_ \_ ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/11 "2004-11-15T07:11:44Z")
A friend of mine ate some bad fish, once. He said , “I should have known better, I took French” [poisson/poison](http://www.whoi.edu/redtide/illness/ciguatera_fish_poisoning.html) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/12 "2004-11-15T11:05:11Z")
> [@Mirasawa](#): > > What kind of an effete snob thinks eating raw oysters is such a good idea? How about grabbing a catfish out of the bottom of a river and sucking its guts out raw? It’s not just the snobbery and the flavor. A significant number of people regard oysters as aphrodisiacs - a sort of pre-industrial Viagra. In which case _who cares_ what it tastes like - I’m getting sex tonight!!! As anyone who works in an ER about the embarassing, stupid, and even dangerous stuff people will do in pursuit of an orgasm. Some of which makes eating raw oysters from warm waters look like good odds. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/13 "2004-11-15T12:13:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > As anyone who works in an ER about the embarassing, stupid, and even dangerous stuff people will do in pursuit of an orgasm. Some of which makes eating raw oysters from warm waters look like good odds. Maybe we should conduct a rigorous scientific trial. All members of the SDMB should be allocated (at random) either a raw oyster, a [Mars Bar](http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/marsbar.htm) or a [gerbil](http://www.snopes.com/risque/homosex/gerbil.htm). Last man standing wins. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/14 "2004-11-15T13:29:52Z")
> [@Mirasawa](#): > > I mean, yuck! I’ve had raw oysters before, and I dont’ think the taste is worth the risk. What kind of an effete snob thinks eating raw oysters is such a good idea? How about grabbing a catfish out of the bottom of a river and sucking its guts out raw? I don’t think I qualify as an “effete snob,” but I gotta tell you, oysters are seriously good. I work directly across the street from the famed Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, in New York City. At least once a week, after work I’ll go there with a friend or two for a dozen oysters and a beer. They’ve got oysters from all over – west coast, east coast, Japan (they seem to have very good oysters in Japan, by the way). I love oysters. I love oysters. Give me more. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/15 "2004-11-15T21:37:24Z")
> [@](#): > > A significant number of people regard oysters as aphrodisiacs. To be fair, the article didn’t mention whether or not they were sporting wood as they lay writhing on the hospital bed. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/16 "2004-11-15T22:20:55Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > I don’t think I qualify as an “effete snob,” but I gotta tell you, oysters are seriously good. > > I work directly across the street from the famed Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, in New York City. At least once a week, after work I’ll go there with a friend or two for a dozen oysters and a beer. They’ve got oysters from all over – west coast, east coast, Japan (they seem to have very good oysters in Japan, by the way). > > I love oysters. I love oysters. Give me more. I love the Oyster Bar’s raw platters… I think I know where I’m going for dinner now! ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/17 "2004-11-16T04:15:32Z")
AAAAHHH! OYSTERS! We dissected some clams in Zoology, and… although I never liked clams before, I plan on NEVER eating them now. Aahhh! ---
**Author:** ![Sharky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sharky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sharky)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/18 "2004-11-16T04:32:28Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I think that’s vibrio vulnificus. There are several cases along the southern coastal areas every year. Most cases occur in people who are ill already with liver or immunity related diseases. Correct. Every establishment serving raw shellfish has signs posted prominently, warning those who have a history of liver disease or compromised immune systems that eating raw shellfish can be deadly. But every year a few people still get sick. The “R rule” is from the days before refrigeration, it’s generally ignored today. By the way, the man who died was from Wewahitchka (known as “Wewa” around here), which is right next door to Apalachicola, source of some of the finest oysters in the world. I find it hard to believe that he didn’t understand the health risks associated with eating raw oysters - maybe he didn’t know his immune system was compromised. I ate two dozen raw for supper the other night. My favorite beach bar has them on special for $1.99 a dozen. Burp! ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/19 "2004-11-16T14:37:32Z")
I seem to recall that vibrio lives best in temps above 68-69F. Waters are warmer in May, June, July and August, so that leaves about 8 good oyster eating months. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721/20 "2004-11-16T14:53:05Z")
> [@Sharky](#): > > By the way, the man who died was from Wewahitchka (known as “Wewa” around here), which is right next door to Apalachicola, source of some of the finest oysters in the world. I find it hard to believe that he didn’t understand the health risks associated with eating raw oysters - maybe he didn’t know his immune system was compromised. > > I ate two dozen raw for supper the other night. My favorite beach bar has them on special for $1.99 a dozen. Burp! Please note that almost no one who lives in Wewahitchka, Apalachicola, or practically anywhere from Pasco County all the way around the Gulf to New Orleans, can very easily be called an “effete snob”. More likely they’re crackers\*. And oysters are considered a very good meal in the area. Just the way it is. I’m sure a lot more people die on the way home from the Budweiser than they do later from the shellfish. **Ca3799** , the Gulf Waters in this area are warmer than 70 F for the better part of 6-8 months around here. \*Which taste great with raw oysters, some lemon juice and horseradish on top. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-bad-raw-oysters-will-do-that-to-you-horrific-tmi-stuff/274721.md?page=2)