Vibrio Outbreaks: Causes, Detection and Past Multistate Investigations

Outbreaks are the exception

Most cases of Vibrio infection (vibriosis) reported to CDC are not part of an outbreak — but outbreaks do happen. Most are small or local; some are large and involve several states.

A multistate foodborne outbreak is when two or more people in more than one state get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink.

Causes

The sources identified most often are raw oysters, other seafood, juices from shellfish and seawater.

Detection and reporting

• An outbreak is spotted when reported cases rise in a particular place or period of time.
• State, local and territorial health departments do most of the work of identifying and investigating Vibrio outbreaks.
• State health departments report them to CDC through the National Outbreak Reporting System.

Outbreaks CDC helped investigate

Learn more

• Why eating raw oysters is risky
• Tips for cooking shellfish
• The Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference posts current notices of illness outbreaks, and of shellfish closures, openings and recalls.

Sources

Based on "Outbreaks of Vibrio Infections," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.