When Things Go South, It Does Affect You: Perceptions of Vibrio- Related Occupational Risk and Harm Among Chesapeake
Caitlin A Gould1, Shannon Frattaroli, D'Ann L Williams
1From the Department of Environmental Health & Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (C.A.G., D.L.W., D.J.B., M.F.D.); Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (S.F.); Department of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (S.F., D.J.B.); Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (D.L.W.); Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Baltimore, Maryland (M.T.B.); Department of Health, Behavior, & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (D.J.B.); Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology & Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland (M.F.D.); and Johns Hopkins P.O.E. Total Worker Health® Center in Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (M.F.D.).
Abstract:
Commercial fishing is a dangerous profession with known hazards for musculoskeletal injuries, yet minimal examination of microbiological or attendant psychosocial hazards from water- and food-borne pathogens like Vibrio vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus exists. Improving knowledge of Vibrio -related hazards addresses Total Worker Health® concerns for commercial fisheries workers.
Methods:
Following a grounded theory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews with watermen and related workers who fish and harvest shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay, USA, to investigate risk perceptions and understanding, and compliance with regulations intended to reduce worker and consumer illnesses and injuries from pathogen exposures.
Results:
Worker and consumer illnesses and injuries, and threat of fishery closures-with regulatory and organizational factors-influence this workforce.
Conclusions:
Our findings support interventions that promote monitoring, surveillance, and awareness of Vibrio- related risk among watermen, regulatory officials, medical professionals, and the public.
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