North Carolina State University News Services 2110 Avent Ferry Road Campus Box 7504 Raleigh, NC 27695-7504 (919)515-3470
Media Contacts: Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, 919/515-2726
Tim Lucas, News Services, 919/515-3470 or [email protected]
August 11, 1997
New Web Page Gives Public On-Line Access to Pfiesteria News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hundreds of people call Dr. JoAnn Burkholder's office at North Carolina State University each week seeking answers to questions about Pfiesteria piscicida, the toxic organism that, since 1991, has killed millions of fish in Mid-Atlantic coastal waters and, in some cases, been linked to human illnesses.
Now, a new Web site may help them get the information they need with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse.
The site, which will be updated weekly by Burkholder and her laboratory staff, contains background information on Pfiesteria; current research findings; timely confirmations of new Pfiesteria-related fish kills and fish disease outbreaks; common-sense safety guidelines; links to scientific papers and other Web pages about Pfiesteria; and other information of interest to scientists and laypersons.
It is located at: http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/project/aquatic_botany.
"Getting accurate information about Pfiesteria into the hands of scientists, physicians and concerned citizens is one of my lab's top priorities," says Burkholder, associate professor of botany and aquatic ecology at NC State. "Now, people who need information can call it up on the Web, any time of the day." Though parts of the site will be under construction for a few more weeks, it was brought on-line now because the 1997 fish-kill season already is under way, she said.
Widely acknowledged as the world's leading authority on Pfiesteria, Burkholder has published 15 peer-reviewed scientific studies on the toxic organism since 1991, when she first characterized it and identified it at the site of a fish kill. Earlier this month, she received a prestigious, three-year, $150,000 Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment in recognition of her research and education outreach.
"For a long time, I felt that by publishing my research in the scientific journals, I was making it available to anyone who needed it," she says. "But many of the people who need the information most -- fishermen, state legislators and environmental regulators, physicians, and people who live or vacation in coastal areas -- don't have easy access to those journals."
The new Web page helps solve that problem, she says. "If you have access to the Internet, you now have access to some of the most current information available about Pfiesteria."
-- lucas --
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