A deadly bacterium is creeping up the US east coast. How worried should we be?

Warming ocean waters are priming beaches and raw shellfish for Vibrio even as scientists are trying to stay one step ahead Bailey Magers and Sunil Kumar cut strange figures on Pensacola Beach. Bags of disinfectant solution surrounded them on the white sand; their gloved hands juggled test tubes while layers of rubber and plastic shielded their skin from the elements. As the two organized their seawater samples on the popular Florida shoreline last August, an older woman wearing a swimsuit walked over to ask what they were doing. “We’re just actively monitoring water quality,” they told her, but she pressed on. “Are you looking for that flesh-eating bacteria?” “We’re looking into it,” they replied, hoping not to frighten her. The woman turned back toward the ocean, her curiosity satisfied. As she walked away, Kumar noticed that she had scrapes and bruises on her body. A few minutes later, he watched her step into the waves. He shook off a chill and returned to the task at hand. Magers and Kumar study a bacterium called Vibrio, part of a lineage of ancient marine species that likely emerged sometime around the Paleozoic era. Researchers think there are more than 70 Vibrio species in