Five people are dead and four more hospitalized in Louisiana this year after infections from Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium that thrives in warm coastal waters and has earned the nickname “flesh-eating bacteria” for its ability to destroy skin and muscle tissue. State health officials say the toll is far above normal — and it’s part of a pattern spreading well beyond the Gulf Coast.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported nine cases so far in 2026, all nine resulting in hospitalization and five in death.[^1] “During the same period over the previous 10 years, Louisiana reported an average of seven cases and one death,” the agency said, noting that every case this year involved a wound exposed to seawater and that all patients had underlying health conditions.

Vibrio vulnificus occurs naturally in warm, brackish coastal waters and peaks from May through October. People are infected either by eating raw or undercooked shellfish — oysters especially — or by exposing an open wound to seawater. Once in the bloodstream, the bacterium can trigger sepsis, and roughly one in five infected people dies, sometimes within a day or two of falling ill. LDH is now publishing weekly case counts through a new Public Health Data Spotlight dashboard.

Louisiana is not alone. Florida recorded its first 2026 death — a Palm Beach County resident in their 80s — among 11 confirmed cases so far this year, while Alabama and Connecticut have logged additional infections. Maryland has confirmed 29 cases and 114 probable cases in the Chesapeake Bay region this year, following 11 deaths statewide last year. “Cases have gone up steadily over the past decade,” said Dr. Eric Wargotz, president of the Maryland State Medical Society. “As the water is warm, these potential pathogens grow and become in higher concentration and can cause more illness and possibly death.”

That pattern fits a documented, decades-long shift. A 2023 analysis in Scientific Reports found that V. vulnificus wound infections in the eastern U.S. increased eightfold between 1988 and 2018 — from about 10 to 80 cases annually — while the northern boundary of infections crept northward roughly 48 kilometers a year, from below Georgia toward Philadelphia. The study’s authors project that by 2041–2060, the bacterium’s range could reach the New York metropolitan area and case numbers could double; by century’s end, under continued high emissions, it could appear in every eastern state. Co-author Iain Lake, of the University of East Anglia, called the northward creep “an indication of the effect that climate change is already having on human health and the coastline.” Co-author James Oliver of UNC Charlotte described the paper as “a landmark… which not only ties global climate change to disease but provides strong evidence for the environmental spread of this extremely deadly bacterial pathogen.

Louisiana’s 2026 spike also echoes a broader trend seen after major hurricanes, when storm surge and flooding push bacteria-laden brackish water into contact with more people. Florida, for instance, recorded a record 83 cases and 18 deaths in 2024 following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Health officials in all affected states urge the same precautions: keep open wounds away from seawater, wash any exposure immediately with soap and clean water, cook shellfish thoroughly, and seek care immediately if a wound reddens, swells or discolors after coastal exposure.

Endnotes

1: Louisiana Department of Health, “LDH urges precautions following increase in severe Vibrio vulnificus infections,” Aug. 6, 2026, ldh.la.gov/news/vibrio-update-aug26.
2: WUSF, “Florida reports first 2026 death from a ‘flesh-eating bacteria’ infection,” July 2026; CBS News Miami, “First death of 2026 from rare, flesh-eating bacteria reported in South Florida,” Aug. 2026.
3: Fox Weather, “Flesh-eating bacteria tracker 2026: Cases in Florida, Alabama and Connecticut,” 2026.
4: Fox45/WBFF Baltimore, “Officials warn of flesh-eating bacteria risk in Chesapeake Bay as water temperatures rise,” July 31, 2026.
[^5]: Archer, E.J., Baker-Austin, C., Osborn, T.J., et al., “Climate warming and increasing Vibrio vulnificus infections in North America,” Scientific Reports 13, 3893 (2023), doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28247-2.
[^6]: University of East Anglia, via ScienceDaily, “Scientists warn of rise in potentially fatal bacterial infection due to global warming,” March 2023.
7: Outbreak News Today, “Florida reports record Vibrio vulnificus,” 2025.