Six people have died after consuming oysters contaminated with the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus. Those infected were served the oysters at separate restaurants, one located in Louisiana and another in Florida.
The deadly oysters were harvested in Louisiana. The deaths raise the state’s 2025 overall toll to six, with a total of 34 infections – the highest rate of infection in a decade. Cases are so high that the Louisiana Department of Health issued a statement on July 31, “urging residents to take precautions to prevent infection from Vibrio vulnificus”.
“Many people with Vibrio vulnificus infection can become seriously ill and need intensive care or limb amputation,” the Louisiana Health Department said. “About one in five people with this infection dies, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill.”
The report stated that Louisiana has seen an unusually high number of Vibrio vulnificus cases and deaths this year.
The situation is “just prolific right now”, according to Jennifer Armentor, molluscan shellfish programme administrator at the Louisiana Department of Health.
In a bid to curb infections restaurants in Louisiana are being asked to post warnings about the risks of eating raw seafood. Health officials stress that cooking oysters thoroughly can significantly lower the risk of infection.
The Gulf’s water is “the perfect convergence of the right amount of salt and the right amount of heat to let this organism proliferate,” said Dr Fred Lopez, an infectious diseases specialist at the LSU Health Sciences Centre in New Orleans.
A total of 22 cases in Louisiana have led to hospitalisations, with around 80 per cent linked to open wounds. Florida has also reported five deaths from 23 cases this year.
Antibiotics used to treat food poisoning cases don’t work as well when the germ enters through breaks in the skin, Dr Lopez added. “They may require multiple surgeries to remove dead or infected tissue, and sometimes require amputation,” he said.