Applied time series analyses (2000-2017) of Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains) in the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica

The goal of this study was to examine the relationships between the density and the oc-currence of V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus (pathogenic strains with thermostable di-rect hemolysin (tdh+) and non-pathogenic strains without tdh (thermo labile hemolysin) associated with C. virginica in Galveston Bay, an important oyster producing estuary on the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. We used a long-term data set (1999-2018) which in-cludes five commercially harvested oyster reefs in the middle of the bay (Figure 1) and an undisturbed man-made reef found in West Bay (Sammy’s reef) to examine the biotic fac-tors influencing these Vibrio spp. populations. In addition, we examined relationships between these pathogenic bacteria and the parasite P. marinus in a subset of the oysters where these pathogens were measured concurrently.