Vibrios are gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria that occur naturally in estuarine or marine environments. Roughly a dozen species are known to cause disease in humans 1, accounting for an estimated 80,000 illnesses, 500 hospitalizations and 100 deaths each year in the United States 2.
Infection is usually from exposure to seawater or consumption of raw or undercooked seafood [3, 4] Vibriosis is characterized by diarrhea, primary septicemia, wound infections, or other extraintestinal infections [3-7]. Infection with pathogenic species of the family Vibrionaceae can cause two distinct categories of infection: cholera and vibriosis, both of which are nationally notifiable.
Information on this site focuses on two species that cause vibriosis: Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus. For information on cholera and it global impact, see CDC’s cholera website.