A second person in Bay County has died this year from Vibrio vulnificus, the so-called “flesh-eating” bacterium, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The death, recorded within the past three weeks, brings the state total to five. On July 15, the agency’s website lists one death each in Bay, Hillsborough, Broward and St. Johns counties.
The health department also reported five new Vibrio infections since mid-July, raising the 2025 total to 16 — two in Bay, Escambia, St. Johns and Santa Rosa, and one each in Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Okaloosa and Walton.
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The bacteria are found in warm, brackish seawater and raw or undercooked seafood. Humans can be infected by exposing an open wound to the water or eating the contaminated seafood.
The health department has not specified how any of the deceased acquired the disease.
While severe illness is rare, untreated infections can cause necrotizing fasciitis — a rapid destruction of tissue under the skin — and death within days.
Symptoms include rash, high fever and chills, vomiting, nausea and cramping. The health department did not specify the sources of the new cases.
Most infections occur between May and October, when water temperatures are warmest.
