Clinical Features and an Epidemiological Study of Vibrio vulnificus Infections

Vibrio vulnificus, a recently described halophilic Vibrio species, has been isolated from the blood, wounds, and other skin lesions of patients with primary sepsis or wound infections. Because no study of risk factors for infections with V vulnificus has been reported, a case-control study was performed with the 30 patients from whom V vulnificus isolates were recently submitted to the Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, Georgia). Patients with primary sepsis were more likely than controls to have eaten raw oysters recently (P less than .01) and to have a history of liver disease (P less than .02). Persons with liver disease should be warned that raw oysters are an important source of this life-threatening infection. Patients with wound infections were more likely than controls to have had recent exposure of the skin to salt water or shellfish (P less than .05). Physicians should therefore consider V vulnificus in the differential diagnosis of severe wound infections with these exposures.