Flesh-eating bacteria are devouring limbs in warming waters worldwide − here’s how to protect yourself

Flesh-eating bacteria infections are climbing along U.S. coastlines as ocean waters warm. The Conversation reports that Vibrio vulnificus, which thrives in warm seawater and brackish areas, has caused nine cases and five deaths in Louisiana, fourteen cases and two deaths in Florida, and seventy-two cases in Maryland this year. The bacteria enters through open wounds or contaminated raw shellfish, and can trigger necrotizing fasciitis, a rapidly spreading tissue infection that can turn fatal within forty-eight hours. Cases remain rare nationally, but researchers cited by the outlet say warming waters are pushing the bacteria's range northward along the East Coast and into parts of Europe.

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