Florida Beachgoers Warned About Deadly Bacteria — That’s Also Found in Raw Shellfish

[KamaAina]

https://www.yahoo.com/health/florida-beachgoers-warned-about-deadly-bacteria-121592164182.html

If you’ve eaten at a restaurant that serves raw seafood, you’ve probably noticed this warning on the menu, or something similar: “Eating raw or undercooked shellfish can put you at a higher risk of foodborne illness.”

Before you brush off the message, consider this: The state of Florida has issued a warning about vibrio vulnificus, an often deadly bacteria that can be transmitted by eating undercooked or raw shellfish such as oysters, clams, or crabs.

Eight people have been infected by the bacteria in Florida this year, and two have died — one from eating raw seafood and another from “multiple exposures” to the bacteria. (The bacteria killed at least seven people in Florida last year, but the state says that number is underreported.)

Vibrio vulnificus can also be contracted by wading in bacteria-infected water with an open wound, but ingesting raw seafood is by far the biggest culprit, infectious disease specialist Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, tells Yahoo Health.

The cholera bacterium is also of the genus Vibrio.

[jberryhill]

1. Do not eat raw oysters in any month without an R in it

[Lochloosa]

2. This has been around since was a kid.

You don't eat oysters in a month without R's and you take care of cuts if your swimming. Simple as that.