Vibrio vulnificus : Disease and Pathogenesis

Vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen that is highly lethal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of reported seafood-related deaths in the United States (30, 117).This bacterium is a part of the natural flora of coastal marine environments worldwide and has been isolated from water, sediments, and a variety of seafood, including shrimp, fish, oysters, and clams (4,7,25,26,43,97, 109, 116, 118, 149, 165).Consumption of seafood (primarily raw oysters) containing V. vulnificus can result in a severe, fulminant systemic infection.Characteristics of this disease include fever, chills, nausea, hypotensive septic shock, and the formation of secondary lesions on the extremities of patients…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration