This study was conducted in order to elucidate the dissemination mechanism of P. olseni using field and laboratory experiments. For this purpose, we quantified the level of P. olseni infection in buried (healthy) and surfaced (gapped) R. philippinarum from a clam bed on Wi-do Island on the west coast of Korea. In addition, the levels of internal and released P. olseni cells from artificially infected (and later dead) R. philippinarum were monitored for 8 days using the RFTM–2 M NaOH lysis method. Our results indicate that P. olseni cells in buried R. philippinarum was 2,655,625 ± 1,536,936 cells/clam; the level in gapped R. philippinarum was considerably lower, 28,203 ± 24,889 cells/clam (p < 0.05). In the laboratory experiment, the P. olseni cells remained in the host tissue 2 days after death was approximately 50% lower than the level of infection measured in living clams. The level dropped to 20% 4 days after death and to 1.5% 6 days after death; eight days after death, P. olseni cells were undetectable since the R. philippinarum flesh had completely decomposed. The level of released cells on the day of death was only 0.05% of the internal level in live R. philippinarum; however, the level increased to 2.3% 5 days after death then gradually decreased and no released cells were detected 8 days after death. Therefore, our laboratory experiment suggest that the low level of P. olseni infection observed in gapped R. philippinarum at Wi-do Island could be caused by lysis of the most of P. olseni cells during the decomposition of dead R. philippinarum tissues. Until the end of decomposition of R. philippinarum, 6.68% of the total amount of P. olseni was released within 8 days. Our study showed that the amount of P. olseni cells from dead host is a considerably higher level than naturally released from healthy R. philippinarum, suggesting that death of the host plays an important role in the dissemination of P. olseni.