While infections are rare, the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus thrives in Florida's warm, salty waters year-round. To protect yourself from this life-threatening infection, avoid swimming and fishing in brackish water with open wounds or handling and eating raw seafood.
Listeria infections are rare, but serious. It is the third leading cause of death from a foodborne illness in the United States. Frederick Southwick, M.D., a UF EPI member, explains why the bacteria is so dangerous.
Vibrio vulnificus, sometimes known as flesh-eating bacteria, 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.
Chagas disease affects muscles in the heart and gut. Transmission is usually associated with kissing bug bites, but experts warn foodborne transmission of Chagas also has a significant impact and often causes more severe symptoms.
University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Ph.D. candidate Tingting Gu explored the implications of Listeria’s symbiosis with other background microflora on food contact surfaces.
Graduate student Amanda Ojeda won best research poster in the EPI Research Day 2023 trainee research poster competition. Her research focused on identifying the prevalence and the composition of Campylobacter species in infants in a rural area of eastern Ethiopia during their first year of life and potential reservoirs. The project was a team collaboration between Ojeda and collaborators at the University of Florida, Haramaya University, Ohio State University, Washington University in St. Louis and Massey University in New Zealand.
New research by UF investigators on Salmonella infections in Florida highlights the influence of seasons, geography and age upon transmission patterns. The team also developed new AI-based methods for detecting outbreaks and linking cases to environmental or food sources.
Seafood can be a tasty source of protein that supports a healthy, balanced diet. EPI teams up with IFAS to assess health risks versus benefits of consuming certain seafood products.
One out of every 10 people worldwide suffer from foodborne diseases annually, and children and the poor suffer most, according to the findings of a World Health Organization task force headed by a University of Florida senior researcher.
Public health records may significantly underestimate the number of people in Florida who are sickened by a rare dangerous food-borne toxin carried by popular sport fish, including barracuda, grouper and amberjack, according to a new study published online today in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
