Along the warm coastal margins of the American Southeast, a largely unknown bacterium has claimed at least nine lives this season, quietly reminding us that the natural world harbors dangers that neither familiarity nor proximity can fully domesticate. Vibrio vulnificus, thriving in the same waters where people swim, fish, and feast on raw oysters, has surged across Florida, South Carolina, and neighboring coastal states in a pattern that public health officials link to persistently elevated water temperatures. The outbreak asks a quiet but serious question: as the seas grow warmer and the sea
Vibrio vulnificus infections surge across Florida and Southeast
At least 9 deaths reported from Vibrio vulnificus infections across the US this season, with additional cases causing severe illness.