"Fewer oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are dying from the diseases that have devastated the bivalve population in recent decades, leading some to believe they may be developing a natural resistance, says a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Dermo and MSX, the two parasites that have been killing oysters, still afflict them throughout the bay - but scientists are seeing more of them surviving, the Annapolis-based environmental group reports.  

Citing data from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the report says that disease-related oyster mortality in the upper bay declined from 2005 through 2009 to 17 percent a year, down from 29 percent on average from 1985 through 2004."

Timothy B. Wheeler reports in the Baltimore Sun's B'More Green blog July 6, 2010. [2]