Two people have died in Florida, one in Fort Lauderdale and one in Pensacola, after consuming raw oysters from Louisiana
The manager of the Rustic Inn, Gary Oreal, in Fort Lauderdale, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the man who died at his restaurant had worked years ago at the restaurant.
Ordeal said, “Over the course of 60 years, we have served a couple billion oysters, and we never had anyone get sick like this guy did.”
The culprit appears to be Vibrio bacteria.
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Vibrio bacteria naturally live in certain coastal waters and are present in higher concentrations between May and October when water temperatures are warmer, according to the CDC.
About a dozen Vibrio species can cause human illness, known as vibriosis. The most common species causing human illness in the United States are Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, and Vibrio alginolyticus.
Most people with a mild case of vibriosis recover after about 3 days with no lasting effects. However, people with a Vibrio vulnificus infection can get seriously ill and need intensive care or limb amputation. About 1 in 5 people with this type of infection die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill.
The CDC estimates that vibriosis causes 80,000 illnesses each year in the United States. About 52,000 of these illnesses are estimated to be the result of eating contaminated food.
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Last week, a man in Pensacola died after contracting the bacteria from oysters he bought at a market, the Pensacola News Journal reported. That oyster also was from Louisiana, officials said.
The Florida Department of Health (DOH) says that 26 people in the state of Florida have become infected with the Vibrio bacteria and six of them later died after eating raw shellfish, so far this year.
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