Oyster illness outbreak under investigation

Several B.C. health agencies, as well as the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, are scrambling to contain an outbreak of illness related to raw West Coast oysters.

It's unclear how many people have been sickened by the oysters, which were distributed in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. It's possiblethe oysters were sold in other parts of the country too, the CFIA said.

The food inspection agency has issued an alert for Effingham extra small raw oysters processed at Albion Fisheriesand Sea World Fisheries in Vancouver.

The oysters were sold in bagsof 60. The Albion-processed oysters have lot numbers 172688 and 172929, the Sea World oysters have the code NY-OY-10091401.

However, CFIA also warned thatthe affected oysters might have been sold in smaller quantities at seafood counters where consumers would not know where they came from or see any identifying codes or lot numbers.

Oysters contaminated with food-borne pathogens may not look or smell spoiled, but can cause serious illness. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, headache, dizziness and neck stiffness.

Those particularly at risk include young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.