2 people more than 700 miles apart dead after eating contaminated…

Two people in Louisiana are dead after reportedly eating uncooked oysters that had been contaminated with flesh-eating bacteria, according to local health officers.

(*2*)The Louisiana Illuminator reported the deaths had been brought about by the bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, which people can contract from eating uncooked seafood. Humans can also catch the bacteria by going into our bodies of water with an open wound. Officials with the Louisiana Department of Health said the 2 deaths are attributed to oysters that had been harvested in Louisiana.

The two deceased people ate at two separate eating places more than 700 miles apart, one in Louisiana and one in Florida, but the oysters originated from the same location, according to local health officers. The names of the eating places are usually not being launched to the public at this time.

State officers in Louisiana haven’t attributed six complete deaths to Vibrio vulnificus linked to the state. It is unclear if the other 4 deaths had been brought about by eating oysters or from open wounds in water. Cases of the flesh-eating bacteria are on the rise throughout the nation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flesh-eating bacteria such as Vibrio vulnificus thrive in coastal waters during the hotter months, particularly in brackish waters, where recent water meets the sea.

Cases of flesh-eating bacteria had been once largely confined to the Gulf Coast, but the CDC said circumstances from 1988 to 2018 surged along the East Coast with an 800% increase.

“Numbers are typically so low, any change looks disproportionate,” Dr. Salvador Almagro-Moreno, an affiliate school member at St. Jude Children’s Hospital with experience in vibrio infections, told (*2*)The Louisiana Illuminator. “Nonetheless, the trend over the past few decades is quite clear: The number of cases has been steadily and consistently increasing, and from these recent outbreaks, they do not seem to be on decline.”

The risk for Vibrio infections has continued to transfer into waters farther north as climate change continues to heat waters in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the CDC, about 1 in 5 people with the infection die.