VHS marine virus threatens Lake Michigan

Houghton, Mich. -- A U.S. scientist says he has developed a water treatment that might help keep a fish disease out of Lake Superior.

Michigan Technological University Professor David Hand has devised a simple method of treating ballast water in vessels ranging from pleasure craft to ore boats. The technique is designed to kill the virus that causes viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS -- an often-fatal disease that has been attacking fish populations in the lower Great Lakes.

Hand said his treatment is simple: The ballast water is disinfected with sodium hypochlorite -- ordinary household bleach. Then it is treated with ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, which neutralizes the bleach before the water is released into the lake.

"Not only do we need to prevent the salties from bringing in new viruses, we also need the lake carriers from the lower Great Lakes to treat their ballast, because the VHS virus is already in Lakes Huron, Michigan and Erie, and we don't want it in Superior," said Hand.

If tests show his system is as safe and effective as he believes, Hand said he hopes to implement its use throughout the Great Lakes.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.