The rare bacteria can impact people through raw or undercooked seafood or through contact with open wounds

Summer starts with millions heading to the sea, but climate‑driven Vibrio, a flesh‑eating bacterium, has already shut beaches in Spain and alarmed the Mediterranean.

Warmer seas are bringing a little-known but potentially dangerous bacterium closer to European beaches, and authorities are paying attention.

The rare bacteria can impact people through raw or undercooked seafood or through contact with open wounds

Aumento da temperatura do mar potencializa proliferação da Vibrio vulnificus, microrganismo capaz de causar infecções graves e potencialmente fatais

In recent years, deaths linked to the flesh‑eating bacterium Vibrio vulnificus and group A streptococcus have risen in the US, Europe and Asia. Warming seas have allowed Vibrio to…

Hundreds have died in recent outbreaks of the so-called flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus and Group A strep. In 2026 Vibrio is spreading through the Mediterranean, driven by…

Hundreds have died in recent outbreaks of the so-called 'flesh-eating' bacteria Vibrio vulnificus and Streptococcus A. Driven by warming seas, Vibrio could spread across the…

As summer heatwaves push sea temperatures to record highs, a little-known bacterium could be thriving in Europe's coastal waters — but how worried should you be?