Tar balls from oil spill may increase spread of flesh-eating bacteria

Houston Chronicle : Vibriosis is a family of warm-water bacteria that causes illnesses ranging from an upset stomach, to cholera, to fatal skin lesions. Vibrio vulnificus is the organism commonly referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria.” According to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records, the number of noncholera vibriosis cases nearly doubled between 2008 and 2009. A 2011 unrelated study by Covadonga Arias of Auburn University in Alabama found an extremely high concentration of V. vulnificus in the tar balls that washed up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Subsequent studies by the CDC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, however, found no direct connection between the growth in vibriosis infections and human contact with the tar balls. But both agencies warn that there still may be some threat of infection from tar balls in future events, though it is unclear just how dangerous they could be.