{"id":87128,"date":"2026-11-05T20:09:25","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T01:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=87128"},"modified":"2026-11-05T20:09:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T01:09:31","slug":"deadly-flesh-eating-bacteria-spikes-in-florida-what-you-need-to-know-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/11\/05\/deadly-flesh-eating-bacteria-spikes-in-florida-what-you-need-to-know-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria Spikes in Florida: What You Need to Know Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Staff<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Vibrio vulnificus<\/em> (often labeled “flesh-eating bacteria” in media reports) naturally occurs in warm coastal waters and brackish environments.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida Department of Health monitoring indicates the state recorded 25 cases and 6 deaths<\/strong> in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 Florida Vibrio Vulnificus Statistics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Confirmed Cases:<\/strong> 25 cases<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Confirmed Fatalities:<\/strong> 6 deaths (reported across Bay, Broward, Marion, Palm Beach, and Pinellas counties)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 2025 Baseline:<\/strong> 33 cases and 5 deaths overall<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Recent Peak Baseline (2024):<\/strong> 82 cases and 19 deaths, largely driven by storm surges from Hurricane Helene<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Risk Factors & Transmission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Open Wound Exposure:<\/strong> The bacteria enters through fresh cuts, scrapes, new tattoos, or surgical incisions exposed to brackish or coastal salt water.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Seafood Ingestion:<\/strong> Eating raw or undercooked shellfish (especially raw oysters) harvested from warm waters can cause severe gastrointestinal illness or bloodstream infection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. High-Risk Individuals:<\/strong> People with chronic liver disease, weakened immune systems, diabetes, or kidney disease face a significantly higher risk of life-threatening complications.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Staff Vibrio vulnificus (often labeled “flesh-eating bacteria” in media reports) naturally occurs in warm coastal waters and brackish environments. Florida Department of Health monitoring indicates the state recorded 25… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzExXC9WaWJyaW8tdnVsbmlmaWN1cy53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRGVhZGx5IEZsZXNoLUVhdGluZyBCYWN0ZXJpYSBTcGlrZXMgaW4gRmxvcmlkYTogV2hhdCBZb3UgTmVlZCB0byBLbm93IE5vdyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.8pNozTPgQMeorSYEgthOBcctb8rAbrTefeIUIZu1UKoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzExXC9WaWJyaW8tdnVsbmlmaWN1cy53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRGVhZGx5IEZsZXNoLUVhdGluZyBCYWN0ZXJpYSBTcGlrZXMgaW4gRmxvcmlkYTogV2hhdCBZb3UgTmVlZCB0byBLbm93IE5vdyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.8pNozTPgQMeorSYEgthOBcctb8rAbrTefeIUIZu1UKoMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6481],"tags":[19020,19016,19015,15678,19021,15342,19017,19014],"class_list":["post-87128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-bacterial-infection","tag-coastal-waters","tag-flesh-eating-bacteria","tag-florida-health","tag-health-news","tag-public-safety","tag-raw-oysters","tag-vibrio-vulnificus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87131,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87128\/revisions\/87131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}