A fifth person has died after contracting a rare, flesh-eating bacteria in Louisiana, state health officials said this week.
Vibrio vulnificus is a bacteria that occurs in warm coastal waters, CBS News previously reported, and is more common between May and October. It can cause illness including life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in five people with a Vibrio vulnificus infection die, according to the CDC.
It’s not clear how the person contracted the bacteria. The person was not identified in a news release from state health officials.
People can contract the bacteria by exposing an open wound to contaminated water or by eating raw or undercooked seafood, including oysters. Two of the Vibrio vulnificus deaths in Louisiana this year were in people who ate contaminated raw oysters, the state health department said in August.
Vibrio vulnificus. / Credit: Callista Images
Louisiana and other states have been seeing an increase in Vibrio vulnificus diagnoses. Experts suggest the trend may be because of warming oceans. The bacteria is usually found in the Gulf Coast, but has begun to become more common further north, said Dr. Fred Lopez, an infectious disease specialist at LSU Health.
“It’s not just a Gulf Coast phenomenon any longer,” said Lopez. “Global warming is moving infections with Vibrio vulnificus up the East Coast.”
State health officials said that during the past decade, Louisiana has seen an average of seven infections and one death per year. In 2025, officials documented 26 cases of the bacteria, CBS News reporter Kati Weis said.
There have also been 10 documented cases of the bacteria in Alabama and three in Mississippi, Weis said, and one of the Mississippi cases was fatal.
CBS Miami previously reported 13 cases of the bacteria in Florida, with eight deaths. Cases of Vibrio vulnificus have been documented as far north as Massachusetts. Some oyster beds have even been closed because of the bacteria, Weis said.
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