TOLEDO, Ohio – Ohio health officials are investigating whether a handful of illnesses and the deaths of a few dogs are related to the toxic algae polluting the state’s largest inland lake.

State regulators said Grand Lake St. Marys in western Ohio is no longer safe for swimmers, boaters or fishing.

Gov. Ted Strickland and other Ohio officials will be at the lake on Friday to announce plans to clean up the blue-green algae in the water.

A 43-year-old man from Celina says he began having memory loss and numbness after he washed his dog that had jumped in the lake and came out covered in green slime.

The man was hospitalized for about five days and is still recovering.

His dog died last weekend.