How Should One Approach Waters Where Vibrio Could Be Present/How to Protect Oneself?

Newswise — Dr. Lisa Waidner is an Assistant Professor with a Ph.D. from the College of Marine Science at the University of Delaware. Her findings have been published in the Journal of Shellfish Research, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Virology, and Environmental Virology.

According to Waidner, "Typically, the generalization is that Vibrio are most prevalent in warmer and brackish waters, but that is not always the case. A study in our general geographic region (out of Waidnerlab) a few years ago showed very high numbers of Vibrio in a wide variety of salinities, and there was no correlation with temperature. Of course, there are more bacteria (total bacteria, both the "good," and the "bad") in warmer waters than in cooler waters. And also, obviously, there are more instances of vibriosis in summer months, when people are more likely to fish, recreate, and encounter marine, brackish, and freshwaters where Vibrio naturally reside. There are some good general guidelines at both the Escambia County Department of Health and CDC websites that people can follow regarding protecting themselves from vibriosis:

https://escambia.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2022/07/2022-07-01-vibro-vulnificus.html

and

https://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html

A third page (also from CDC) points out that generally, worldwide water warming will likely result in more cases of vibriosis, as seen in the link pasted below. Again, all bacteria will grow more quickly in warmer waters than in cooler ones, but the relative abundances of Vibrio in different water bodies is what needs more extensive study. There are myriad other environmental considerations to predict relative abundances of Vibrio in any particular body of water, including but not limited to: seawater intrusion, depth of the water column, salinity stratification, wind, wind direction, length and intensity of freshening events, nutrient status, seagrass coverage on the bottom, total suspended solid concentrations, and light attenuation. Complex oceanographic/hydrographic considerations all go into the ecology of all particular types of bacteria, both the "good," and the "bad" types. These ecological considerations will contribute to the relative success of any particular group of bacteria, and hence influence the ultimate "percent of total bacteria" (relative abundance) that this group makes up. The wide variety of relative abundances of Vibrio is seen in our one small study of 44 sites in Escambia County bodies of water, but has also been seen in many other scientific literature articles from other geographic regions.

https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2023/han00497.asp"