Climate Change Brings Flesh-Eating Bacteria to U.S. Waters

Climate change is causing Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially deadly bacteria that can cause "flesh-eating" infections, to migrate up the East Coast of the United States. Infections have been steadily increasing over the past 30 years, rising from around 10 per year to 80 per year. The bacteria's northward expansion could reach as far as New York in the next 20 years, and the number of annual infections will double. The elderly are much more susceptible to infection. The researchers predict that using less optimistic climate models, infections could rise as high as 140 and 200 cases every year by the end of the century and have spread to every East Coast state.