Vibrio vulnificus Oysters

Pearls and Perils

Daniels, Nicholas A.

Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Correspondence: Nicholas A. Daniels, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco, 1701 Divisadero St, Ste 500, San Francisco, CA 94115 ([email protected]).

Received September 30, 2010

Accepted December 17, 2010

Clinical Infectious Diseases 52(6):p 788-792, March 15, 2011. | DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciq251

Vibrio vulnificus is a naturally occurring bacterium found ubiquitously in coastal waters. Infection with this organism, which is often associated with eating raw oysters, is the leading cause of seafood-related deaths in the United States. This article reviews the current scientific literature on this potentially lethal pathogen and discusses the prognosis, treatment, and prevention of V. vulnificus infections.