Showing papers by "South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control published in 1986"

An outbreak of staphylococcal skin infections among river rafting guides

Abstract: Outbreaks of staphylococcal skin infections among healthy adults are most unusual. The authors report an epidemic of skin infections due to Staphylococcus aureus that involved river rafting guides in Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina in summer 1982. Infections occurred only among employees of the rafting companies that provided communal, on-site housing; carriage rates of S. aureus were as high as 89% at those companies. A case-control study found that having had an infected roommate was significantly associated with infection, as was working at the livery with the most crowded housing. This outbreak appeared to be due to two factors: frequent minor skin wounds acquired while rafting, and prolonged close contact among the persons with wounds. It is likely that crowding and exposure to infected wounds led to elevated S. aureus carriage rates, which in turn increased the probability that wounds would become infected. Repeated immersion in water likely enhanced the development of infections.

Red-pigmented Histoplasma capsulatum--an unusual variant.

Abstract: An unusual variant of Histoplasma capsulatum was isolated from a canebrake. The mycelial form produced a red pigment that diffused into the medium and which was also present in the cell walls of the mycelium, microconidia and macroconidia. The yeast cells were not pigmented nor did they produce any pigment.

Heavy metals in oyster tissue around three coastal marinas.

Abstract: The past decade has presented an unprecedented period of growth and development along the coastline of South Carolina. The majority of this development has been to serve the recreation and tourism industry and, as such, has included the construction of numerous recreational marinas in the coastal waters of the State. Various plans have been presented for the siting of marinas in pristine estuarine waters. This has raised much concern due to the possible impacts of such development on the plentiful oyster resource found in those waters. Marinas present the potential for the introduction of pollutants such as heavy metals into the surrounding waters. This investigation was conducted by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) during 1983, and yielded a multifaceted data base composed of physiocochemical and bacteriological analyses from water, chemical analyses from sediment and chemical/bacteriological physiological analyses from the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). C. virginica was chosen as the organism of interest due to its wide distribution in the estuaries of South Carolina, its importance as an economic and recreational resource and its suitability as a sentinel organism for monitoring coastal pollution.

A public sector health promotion program.

Abstract: The use of a volunteer model in the provision of health promotion programs in the public sector is described based on the experiences of the Carolina Healthstyle Project, originally a health promotion project for state employees in the Columbia, South Carolina metropolitan area and now expanding to all state employees, public school district employees, and, in a more limited fashion, to state government retirees. The revised models for this project may be particularly helpful to other modestly-funded health promotion efforts.