West Marin's Drakes Bay Oyster Co., which closed last month after three illnesses were linked to its raw oysters, has been cleared by the state and has reopened under a monitoring system set up to make sure its shellfish remain free of an illness-causing bacterium.
The state Department of Public Health gave Drakes Bay, the largest oyster grower in the state, the go-ahead to reopen last Wednesday, and the Inverness-area company was up and running in full operation on Friday afternoon.
The bacterium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, naturally inhabits coastal waters in the United States and Canada and is present in higher concentrations during the summer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause vomiting, abdominal cramps and flu-like symptoms, but most infected people recover without treatment in a few days.
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