At least four people in Florida have died this year from infections caused by a rare flesh-eating bacteria, according to data released by the state’s health department.
Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium that typically lives in warm, brackish seawater, can infect people who eat raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters.
While infections are rare, they can be extremely dangerous and lead to limb amputations or even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About one in five infected people die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill, the CDC says.
V. vulnificus infections — which can be caused by eating raw or undercooked shellfish or by exposing an open wound to saltwater — are also underreported, officials in Florida say.
Between 1988 and 2006, the CDC received reports of more than 900 V. vulnificus infections from the Gulf Coast states, where most cases occur.
While there was no national surveillance system for the bacterium at the time, CDC officials worked with officials in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi to monitor cases in the region.
Starting in 2007, however, infections became “nationally notifiable.” According to the CDC, reported cases in the Eastern U.S. increased eightfold from 1988 through 2018.
While there were no reported deaths in the U.S. Northeast in 2024, at least three people died from infections in the summer of 2023: two people in Connecticut and one person in Suffolk County, New York.
The increase in Vibrio infections associated with warmer waters along the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard states led Gov. Kathy Hochul to issue a statement urging New Yorkers to “stay vigilant and take and take responsible precautions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.”
Last year, there were 82 confirmed cases in Florida, 19 of which resulted in deaths, officials said. The “unusual increase” in infections was attributed to floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene, which affected six counties in the Tampa Bay area, officials said.
