The Connection between Changing Climate and Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Once again, it is that time of the year: when the climate is warm and individuals are swarming the shoreline. That implies it's likewise the season when doctors notice a considerable rise in a specific sort of "flesh-eating" bacterial contaminations known as vibriosis. The cause of these diseases is the Vibrio bacteria, which grow in warm, coastal seawater and frequently taint broadly expended shellfish species, like clams. Researchers confirm that as environmental change causes an expansion in sea surface temperatures and an ascent in sea levels, Vibrio diseases will turn out to be more typical. This is on the grounds that warmer, rising waters make a considerably all the more inviting environment for the destructive pathogen.

There are in excess of 70 types of Vibrio, with 12 of them perceived as human pathogens, as indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nonetheless, just two of those 12 are in charge of the larger part of diseases in beachgoers and raw-shellfish customers: V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus. A marine microbiologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Kimberly Reece expressed that V. vulnificus is the one that causes the highest number of deaths and is commonly related with wound infections. V. vulnificus is commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria due to the fact that as it infects a wound, it causes the skin and tissues around it to break down and die. On the other hand, V. parahaemolyticus,  is the species commonly found in shellfish, and in spite of the fact that it causes more vibriosis cases, it's not as fatal as V. vulnificus, Reece confirmed. Commonly, individuals who get vibriosis from shellfish may experience such side effects as gastrointestinal issues, however, if they are generally healthy, they will for the most part recuperate in a couple of days.