Flesh-eating bacteria strike again. Latest updates on cases, deaths.

A bacteria that can cause necrotizing fasciitis — in which the infected flesh dies — keeps sickening people, especially in Florida and Louisiana.

The Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported Sept. 1 that an online fundraiser was seeking help for a 38-year-old man infected with the bacteria, called Vibrio vulnificus. He contracted the bacteria on Aug. 23 while fishing with his family in Port St. Joe, a town along the Gulf Coast on the Florida Panhandle, about 50 miles east of Panama City.

In Florida, five people have died from the bacteria and 23 cases of Vibrio vulnificus have been reported in 2025.

Meanwhile, two deaths and 22 cases have been reported in Louisiana as of late August.

The bacteria, typically found in warm coastal waters along the Gulf Coast during the summer and early autumn months, prompted warnings from officials as far north as Massachusetts this year.

In August, Massachusetts officials warned residents and visitors to Buzzards Bay, a community on the south end of Cape Cod, after a person there was infected with Vibrio vulnificus.

And a man in Annapolis, Maryland, contracted the bacteria in July through a cut on his leg, according to Chesapeake Bay Magazine. The man, whom the magazine did not identify citing privacy concerns, cut his shin on a bait fish trap on a pier in an inlet that leads to the bay.

Vibrio vulnificus: What it is and how to avoid infection

The Vibrio species of bacteria, which includes Vibrio vulnificus, can cause severe and life-threatening infections, including necrotizing fasciitis, which kills the flesh around an open wound. People with the infection can require intensive medical care, and even limb amputation, and 1 in 5 people with the infection die.

Vibrio bacteria are more common in warm, brackish waters, especially along the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Texas and Florida, Dr. Larry Madoff told USA TODAY in August. However, it's being seen with increasing frequency in northeastern states along the Atlantic coast, said Madoff, medical director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences.

The bacteria can enter the body through open wounds or through foods, such as contaminated shellfish. People who have health conditions, including liver disease, cancer, diabetes or HIV, or who take immunosuppressants are at the highest risk for severe illness. Common symptoms of Vibrio infection include diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, dangerously low blood pressure and blistering lesions. Wounds that become infected may be red, swollen or discolored and may have a discharge

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests taking the following precautions to avoid infection:

• Cover any open wound, including from recent surgeries, piercings, tattoos, cuts or scrapes, with a waterproof bandage and do not wade, swim or fish in coastal waters if you have one;
• Cover any such wounds when handling raw seafood, including drippings and juices;
• Wash your hands and surfaces thoroughly when cooking with raw seafood;
• Thoroughly cook any seafood if you are at increased risk for serious illness;
• Immediately and thoroughly wash wounds and cuts with soap and clean, running water after exposure to coastal water;
• Wear clean clothes to protect yourself while in the water if you're among those who might be more vulnerable to illness.

Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY; Dylan Gentile, Tallahassee Democrat