Twelve Vibrio vulnificus infections have been reported in Florida this year, and the one death occurred in Palm Beach County, according to data from the state’s health department. The person was in their 80s, NBC 6 reported. Florida’s health department told TIME that it is investigating the case, but wouldn’t provide additional details, including how the person became ill.
Vibrio vulnificus can sicken people in different ways. Most commonly, the pathogen is consumed through raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, says Valerie Harwood, a professor of biology at the University of South Florida who studies the bacteria. “Oysters prefer the same salinity of water as Vibrio vulnificus,” she says, “and since oysters are filter feeders, they pull water and microorganisms into their [digestive] tract, and the bacteria get concentrated in their tissue.”
The infected person will often get an “extremely hot and painful wound, but you might not be able to see it initially because it’s under the skin,” Harwood says.
Wound infections tend to be more lethal, Harwood says. People who are elderly or have certain underlying medical conditions, including liver disease, diabetes, or cancer, are at greater risk of severe disease, the CDC says.
How to prevent a Vibrio vulnificus infection
To avoid dangerous exposure to Vibrio vulnificus, Harwood recommends that people with open wounds on their body, including fresh tattoos and new piercings, stay away from warm salt and brackish coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Mexico, until the skin is healed. Harwood says she personally would even avoid wading in such waters a day or two after shaving her legs in case of micro-tears on the skin. “I’m not even a germophobe or anything,” she says. “I just don’t want to risk any exposure.”
Vibrio vulnificus flourishes when waters are warm. (The bacteria also love the warmth of the human body.) They can also live in colder waters, but their populations shrink under those conditions, Harwood says. Eating raw oysters during cooler months or oysters that have been harvested in colder waters, such as on the western coast of the U.S., could be safer, Harwood says. She also recommends that people wear gloves when shucking oysters to avoid getting cut and risk being exposed to the bacteria.
Vibrio vulnificus infections are rare globally. In the U.S., about 150 to 200 cases of the disease are reported every year, according to CDC data—most of them in Florida and other Gulf Coast states. Climate change, however, is expected to increase the prevalence of Vibrio vulnificus in the U.S. and around the world.
Vibrio vulnificus “used to be seen as a very rare infection, but it is becoming a huge problem now, especially with the heatwaves in the summertime, and the growing popularity of year-round sea bathing,” Yaovi M. Gildas Hounmanou, an infectious-disease expert and co-author of the 2026 study, told Gavi, the global vaccine organization, in a May interview.
There is currently no Vibrio vulnificus vaccine for people, though researchers are exploring potential options. People who suffer serious infections are treated with antibiotics. However, says Harwood, “if Vibrio vulnificus gets into your bloodstream and causes sepsis, sometimes there is nothing doctors can do.”
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