Vibrio Vulnificus - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Vibrio vulnificus causes an infection often incurred after eating seafood, especially raw or undercooked oysters; the bacteria can also enter the body through open wounds when swimming or wading in infected waters, or via puncture wounds from the spines of fish such as tilapia.

Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and a blistering dermatitis that is sometimes mistaken for pemphigus or pemphigoid.

V. vulnificus is eighty times more likely to spread into the blood stream in people with compromised immune systems, especially those with chronic liver disease. When this happens, severe symptoms including blistering skin lesions, septic shock, and even death can occur. This severe infection may occur regardless of whether the infection began via contaminated food or via an open wound.