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WEKU
WEKU
Emily Olson

A rare but dangerous flesh-eating bacteria is infecting Florida residents

A man tows a canoe through a flooded street of his neighborhood in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., last month. Vibrio vulnificus thrives in warm, brackish floodwaters. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Parts of Florida hit hardest by Hurricane Ian are seeing nearly double the normal number of infections from a flesh-eating bacteria that thrives in brackish floodwaters.

According to the Florida Department of Health, the state has seen 65 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections and 11 deaths from the bacterium in 2022. Lee County, where Ian made landfall on Sept 28 as a category 4 storm, accounts for 45% of the cases.

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