One in five people with this infection dies, sometimes within two days

Vibrio are bacteria that live in coastal water and make people ill. Most
infections come from **eating raw or undercooked shellfish, especially
oysters**. Others come from **an open wound contacting coastal water, or raw
seafood, its drippings or juices.**

The number that sets the stakes

**People with a Vibrio vulnificus infection can get seriously ill and need
intensive care or limb amputation. About 1 in 5 people with this infection
die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill.**

One in five, sometimes within 48 hours. That speed is why this is not an
illness where waiting to see how it develops is a reasonable plan, and why the
prevention advice is worth taking literally.

The two steps

1. Do not eat raw or undercooked seafood.
2. Do not let coastal water get in an open wound.

The second is the one people do not think of. A cut on a foot and a walk in
the sea is not an obviously risky act, and it is one of the two main routes.

Who is most at risk

Taking these steps matters **especially for people with an underlying medical
condition — particularly liver disease.**

Vibrio vulnificus and liver disease is one of the sharpest risk pairings in
infectious disease. The iron handling and immune changes that come with
cirrhosis make an infection that most healthy people survive very frequently
fatal.

Anyone with liver disease who eats raw oysters is not taking the same risk as
the person next to them.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.