A rare but dangerous flesh-eating bacteria known as vibrio vulnificus has triggered alarm in the public health sector.
The CDC has released a health alert due to a spike in vibrio infections. In the past, vibrio infections have limited themselves to the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts since the bacteria thrive in warm coastal and brackish waters, such as in Florida. However, reports of vibrio infections appear to be spreading further north along the East Coast, with deaths registered this year in North Carolina, Connecticut, and New York.
Last year’s flooding in Florida caused by Hurricane Ian led to a surge in such cases in coastal cities, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
One study published earlier this year in Scientific Reports found that vibrio infections stemming from wounds increased eightfold in eastern states between 1988 and 2018. The surge was largely due to a steady uptick in infections reported in states in the Northeast caused by the bacteria as it crept northward amid rising coastal temperatures.
“The warmer water is, the more bacteria can reproduce faster,” Gabby Barbarite of Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute told USA Today.
Higher coastal temperatures could mean higher rates of infection and, consequently, more fatalities in the future, with the CDC already logging approximately 80,000 infections and 100 deaths each year on average nationwide.
Although consuming raw or undercooked seafood can lead to contracting a vibrio infection, the CDC warned that the current most prevalent transmission route is through open wounds — scrapes, recent piercings, blisters — coming into direct contact with contaminated water. Individuals with liver disease, diabetes, or conditions that compromise the immune system are especially urged to take preventative steps.
Symptoms of infection include watery diarrhea, stomach cramping, chills, fever, and visibly infected wounds. A vibrio infection carries the risk of developing necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as “flesh-eating disease,” where the flesh around the infected area dies.
Patients might need treatment in intensive care units or even limb amputations. Lethal cases can move swiftly, with some patients dying within days of showing symptoms.
The CDC’s health alert also provided guidelines for medical professionals on how to treat vibrio cases.
Relatedly, a case of amebic meningitis infection was recently reported in Austin. The infection was reportedly caused by a brain-eating amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri, which thrives in warm freshwater environments and enters the body through the nasal cavity.
A preliminary test suggesting the presence of Naegleria fowleri at the California Lane Park splash pad recently led the City of Arlington to shut the splash pad down until more testing could be done, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Further tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency yielded negative results, and the splash pad was later reopened.
