Overview
- State health officials say that in 2026 Louisiana has confirmed nine Vibrio vulnificus infections with five deaths and Florida has reported 14 infections with two deaths, and all confirmed Louisiana patients were hospitalized.
- Vibrio vulnificus infections occur when people eat raw or undercooked shellfish, especially oysters, or when the bacteria enter cuts or abrasions after contact with salt or brackish water.
- The CDC warns this is the deadliest common Vibrio species and that about one in five infected people can die; severe cases can cause rapidly advancing soft-tissue destruction, sepsis, intensive care needs, or amputations.
- Public-health guidance calls for cooking shellfish fully, avoiding coastal water with open wounds, washing wounds immediately after exposure, and urgent medical care for wounds that become red, hot, swollen, painful, or change color; oyster harvest and processing workers face elevated risk.
- Researchers link the rise and northward shift of Vibrio cases to warming waters and storm-driven coastal changes, and health agencies say they will keep surveillance and warnings active through the high-risk season.