When Hurricane Ian struck southwest Florida in September 2022, it unleashed a variety of Vibrio bacteria that can cause illness and death in humans, according to a new study published in the journal mBio.
When Hurricane Ian struck southwest Florida in September 2022, it unleashed a variety of Vibrio bacteria that can cause illness and death in humans, according to a new study published in the journal mBio.
Using a combination of genome sequencing and satellite and environmental data, a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, the University of Florida and microbiome company EzBiome detected several pathogenic Vibrio species in water and oyster samples from Florida’s Lee County, a coastal region that was devastated by Hurricane Ian. The samples, which were collected in October 2022, revealed the presence of two particularly concerning species: Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus.
“We were very surprised to be able to detect—without any difficulty—the presence of these pathogens,” said the study’s senior author Rita Colwell, a Distinguished University Professor in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) who has studied Vibrio for the last 50 years.
Read more at: University of Maryland
Hurricane Ian, pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above the Caribbean Sea east of Belize. (Photo Credit: NASA Johnson)
