We recently reported on the Warning of Louisiana Department of Health Vibrio vulnificusThe flesh -eaten bacteria including Boing Boing’s Séamus Bellamy so beautifully describes as “living its best life in the waters that leans against the beaches of the East American Coast”. Well, everyone, because while most of the 150 to 200 annual cases in the United States occur along the Gulf coast, a new case of flesh-eating bacteria has recently been confirmed, this time at a CAPE COD beach, Massachusetts.
Vibrio vulnificus is a bacteria found in coastal and estuarine waters (where fresh water mixes with salt water), including the Gulf coast and the Atlantic coast. Bacteria thrive when the temperatures on the surface of the water increase during heat waves and are generally at their peak from May to October. CAPE COD Times quotes the public health commissioner of Massachusetts, Robbie Goldstein, who said that Vibrio vulnificus Infections “can spread through blood circulation and cause serious and fatal disease”, including necrotizing fasciitis or flesh -eating disease.
As of July 30, Louisiana saw 17 cases of Vibrio vulnificus in 2025 only. The seventeen patients were hospitalized and four died. The Louisiana Department of Health reports that 75% of these cases were linked to “exposure to wounds / sea water”. This is an unusually high number of cases – CAPE COD Times Note that, in comparison, over the past decade, Louisiana has an average of seven cases and one death per year. Cases also presented this year in Florida. As of July 24, the State reported 13 cases and four deaths, figures more in line with previous years, although still alarming.
This year, in addition to the cases of the Gulf Coast, a new case was recently confirmed in Old Silver Beach in Falmouth, a city at the southwest tip of CAD COD, Massachusetts. According to CAPE COD TimesThe case was confirmed by local officials and the state on August 8, shortly after the patient, who had swam in the water at Cape Cod beach, fell ill.
Until now in 2025, the Massachusetts has seen 71 confirmed and probable cases of Vibriowhich includes all dozens of types of types of Vibrionot just Vibrio vulnificus. According to Cape Cod Times, thirty percent of these cases included hospitalization and no death was reported. During the period from 2015 to 2024, the Massachusetts reported on average 88 cases of Vibrio Infection (of all kinds) per year. While Vibrio vulnificus The cases are, according to the Department of Public Health of Falmouth, “extremely rare” in the Massachusetts, they begin to be reported more and more in the north than in previous years, due to the warming of the temperatures of the ocean. So, I expected to see more cases in the States of the Gulf Coast and in more locations on the North Atlantic coast.
COD CAPE TIMES reports that if COD CAPE beaches like Falmouth are monitored for fecal bacteria, there is no good way to monitor bath water for the virus. They also explain:
The bacteria is rare in Massachusetts, but is slightly more likely at the end of summer and early fall when the water temperatures are the warmest, according to the press release. No more cases Vibrio vulnificus report in the North that in the previous decades, that scientists partly attribute to climate change.
The city asked individuals to avoid swimming or going into the water with open cuts, scratches or fresh tattoos or to cover the injury with waterproof bandage. Also rinse all injuries with soap and fresh water after contact with coastal waters and quickly consult medical care if the wound becomes red, swollen, painful or is accompanied by fever after exposure to sea water.
People usually get the virus by swimming in seawater with open wounds, so you should really avoid doing it. You can also get the virus by eating raw or insufficient seafood like raw oysters, it is therefore appropriate to carefully cook your seafood, especially during the hottest months of the year. The Ministry of Public Health of Massachusetts advises that immunodepromised people are more at risk of serious illness after exposure Vibrio vulnificus By open wounds, and that people who are in medicine which decrease the levels of gastric acid or who have undergone recent stomach surgery have an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal infections from crustaceans or seafood infected with Vibrio vulnificus. Stay safe there, friends!
Previously:
• flesh bacteria eating more and more common flesh on American beaches
• The “high quantities” of bacteria and oceanic plastics with flesh create a “perfect pathogen storm” in Florida
• Florida man infected with bacteria eaten flesh after being bitten by a family member
• Oysters and other marine boogers have a disease
• Two dead after eating Louisiana’s raw oysters
