Vibrio Symposium
In May 2026, the EPI gathered experts to lead discussions on the public health implications, environmental impact and response to Vibrio bacteria. Talks included special guests St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Harvard University and Case Western Reserve University.
Vibrio is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that contains several species known to cause vibriosis, an infection characterized by foodborne illness or soft-tissue infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio alginolyticus are the three species most common in causing human illness in the United States, with the country seeing an estimated 80,000 cases of vibriosis each year. Vibrio cholerae is another species in the genus that causes cholera, a bacterial disease that spreads through contaminated food and water. Researchers report approximately 1.3 to 4 million cases of cholera every year, according to the World Health Organization.
Meet the Speakers
University of Florida
Volker Mai, Ph.D.
Volker Mai, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. His research program is focused on exploring the interactions between diet and gut microbiota and their contributions to various aspects of human health. His research utilizes state of the art sequencing and bioinformatics approaches to establish potential utility and develop microbiota targeting interventions.
Case Western Reserve University
Andrew Curtis, Ph.D.
Andrew Curtis, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and Co-Director of the GIS Health & Hazards Lab. His research centers on spatial epidemiology, context-driven data collection in challenging environments and spatial confidentiality, combining field geospatial methods with spatial analysis at the scale of homes, streets and neighborhoods. A significant thread of his work focuses on cholera surveillance, particularly in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he has pioneered the use of spatial video and novel grid heat map tools to map disease risk and transmission patterns in real time.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Salvador Almagro-Moreno, Ph.D.
Salvador Almagro-Moreno, Ph.D., is an expert in Vibrio pathogen biology. He currently serves as an associate member in the Department of Host Microbe Interactions at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His research program focuses on several pathogenic members of the Vibrionaceae, a family of aquatic bacteria, as model systems. His lab's investigations have an emphasis on two members of this diverse group: a) Vibrio cholerae and b) Vibrio vulnificus. The former climate-sensitive emergent zoonotic pathogen causes fulminant septicemia and remains poorly understood. Its outbreaks have increased in numbers and reached higher latitudes due to the effects of climate change.
University of Florida
Juan Perez, Ph.D. Candidate
Juan Perez is a doctoral candidate under the mentorship of Marco Salemi, Ph.D., at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. His motivation for science is captured by the study of microbial evolution and co-adaptation in pathogens through comparative genomics, molecular phylogenetics and bioinformatics. Through the professional challenges of his career path, Perez has developed an increasing interest to study how genes and genomes have evolved in different species. He is listed as an author on the paper being presented on behalf of the Salemi Lab, titled "Evolutionary Dynamics of Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1 in Relief Camps for Displaced Populations in the Lake Region in Goma, DRC."
Harvard university
Franz Zingl, Ph.D.
Franz Zingl, Ph.D., is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham & Women's Hospital, as well as in the Department of Microbiology at Harvard Medical School. Zingl's research centers on Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, with a particular focus on how this pathogen survives, adapts and causes disease across different environments.
University of Florida
Eric Nelson, M.D., Ph.D.
Eric Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. He also serves as a pediatric hospitalist and sees patients at UF Health Shands Children's Hospital. His main areas of research interest include emergency medicine, cholera and pediatric telemedicine.
University of Florida
Carla Mavian, Ph.D.
Carla Mavian, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, as well as the Emerging Pathogens Institute Associate Director for International Relations and Surveillance. Her research program supports cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of infectious diseases. Her area of research is infectious diseases, with emphasis on molecular evolution and host-pathogen interactions. Her research spans from large-scale epidemic processes, such as population growth and spatial epidemic dispersal, to small-scale transmission histories; and within-host evolution, including adaptation and recombination.
University of Florida
Massimiliano Tagliamonte, Ph.D.
Massimiliano Tagliamonte, Ph.D., is an assistant scientist at the University of Florida's Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, where he specializes in infectious disease genomics and molecular epidemiology. His work focuses on phylodynamic tracking of emerging pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, Vibrio cholerae and arboviruses, with a strong focus on outbreak surveillance in Haiti, Florida and globally.
EPI Members on Vibrio
Research News
Vibrio vulnificus in Florida: the flesh-eating bacteria you may have heard about
Vibrio vulnificus is often transmitted when someone with an open wound enters brackish water. The infection can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, a condition where the flesh around the wound dies. People may also ingest Vibrio vulnificus by eating contaminated seafood like raw oysters – consequently experiencing vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain – which may also ultimately lead to a systemic infection of the skin.
Research News
Cholera bacteria colonize Haitian rivers, evolve
UF researchers with the Emerging Pathogens Institute have uncovered the first-ever evidence for cholera bacteria establishing in a natural water environment outside the Bay of Bengal in the northern Indian Ocean. The bacteria are also adaptively evolving within their new aquatic habitat, the researchers reported Monday in the journal PNAS. While cholera is thought of as an age-old human disease of poverty, the bacteria that cause it — toxigenic Vibrio cholerae — are able to persist in natural water systems for extended periods of time.
EPI Resources on Vibrio
Educational Page
Vibrio vulnificus in Florida: What to know
Vibrio bacteria thrive in warm, brackish waters where freshwater meets the sea. Florida has the highest rate of vibriosis cases in the United States due to this environment. Almost a dozen Vibrio species can cause vibriosis, but the most dangerous is Vibrio vulnificus. This species of Vibrio can cause life-threatening infections if swallowed or contracted through an open wound.
Research News
Spooky pathogens: Meet the microbes that keep us up at night
They’re invisible, unpredictable and everywhere. Most are harmless — some even helpful — but a few are the stuff of nightmares. These creepy microbes infect, invade and control their hosts, earning them a well-deserved place in the hall of scientific horrors. Here, in no particular order, are some of the spookiest pathogens known to science.
YouTube Video
What is Vibrio vulnificus, the flesh-eating bacterium?
Almost a dozen Vibrio species can cause vibriosis, but the most dangerous is Vibrio vulnificus. This species of Vibrio can cause life-threatening infections if swallowed or contracted through an open wound.
Past Symposia
