The day’s catch still clung to the planks when crabber Marc Mitchem finished unloading in Wanchese. He has worked these waters since 1984 and now keeps bleach, gloves and sanitizer within easy reach.
“Got to keep doing what you’re doing and try to be smart,” Mitchem said.
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This week the risk turned personal. A friend and fellow shrimper is in an Outer Banks hospital with a Vibrio vulnificus wound infection. “He’s a friend, always willing to help people. He’s fished all his life,” Mitchem said. “I think he’s getting better, but it’s a scary thing.”
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State numbers show why people on the docks are on edge. North Carolina has reported 59 Vibrio infections of all types and one death through July 31, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Most involve milder species such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The rare species Vibrio vulnificus can enter through a small cut and, in severe cases, destroy tissue within hours. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 20% of vulnificus patients die, often within two days.
Between fishing charters, John Silver has been visiting his friend and mentor in the hospital, hoping he can fight off the infection.
“I try to check in on him most days, and so I’m just hoping that he’ll pull through,” Silver said. “It’s a lot of prayers are being said for him.”
Silver said watermen here have learned the risk the hard way, after two deaths in Dare County in the past two years and several close calls. “A guy got it behind his eyes and he almost blind over it,” he said. “Another fisherman, he got a crab point stuck in his hand, and then it ate up his whole arm.”
What is driving risk now
Vibrio bacteria are natural in coastal waters and flourish in heat, especially in the brackish mix of salt and fresh water in sounds and estuaries. “Once the temperatures get upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, they start to double in number really fast,” said Ava Ellett, a marine biologist with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. “Most infections happen from May to October.” She said temperature is the main driver, with salinity a secondary factor.
Silver said the conditions have been ripe for bacteria in Wanchese. “Last week, the water in the sound was up to 93 degrees," he said. "It was just hot, almost like Jacuzzi water.”
Ellett says heavy rain does not wash in Vibrio the way it boosts fecal bacteria after storms, but can shift salinity enough to create the brackish “sweet spot” for it to thrive.
Late-summer weather can tip the balance further.
“We tend to see incidents associated with extreme weather events,” said Craig Baker-Austin, principal microbiologist at the UK’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science who published research on Vibrio growth in the Carolinas. “Normally, heat waves [and] heavy precipitation events, because these bacteria … generally grow better in lower salinity water. So when you get a heavy rainfall event, it reduces the salinity in the water in coastal areas.” He said spikes in infections have followed major storms in both Europe and the United States.
He also said warming coastal waters and more extreme heat are widening the window for exposure and pushing risk farther north
From research to tools
NOAA scientists are turning long-running sampling and water-quality data into practical guidance. In places like the Chesapeake Bay, NOAA runs risk maps that estimate where Vibrio is more likely on a given day based on temperature, salinity and field samples. The agency also publishes harvest and cooling guidance for oyster growers in several regions. Ellett said NOAA has been talking with Carolinas officials about what types of tools would be most useful here and aims to build products that local health departments and seafood operators will actually use.
Beyond the overall totals, health officials say seven Vibrio vulnificus cases have been logged so far this year in North Carolina, and they expect reports to rise into September as waters remain warm. The “flesh-eating” label applies to severe vulnificus wound infections, which are uncommon but dangerous. Most Vibrio illnesses are not vulnificus.
How to lower your risk
Workers should wear gloves, keep a first-aid kit on board, and clean punctures right away. Beachgoers should keep open cuts, fresh tattoos and piercings out of brackish or salty water and shower with soap after swimming or fishing. Cook oysters, clams, shrimp and crabs thoroughly. If a wound turns red, swollen or blistered within 24 hours of water exposure, go to the ER and mention possible Vibrio.
The broader picture
Florida and Louisiana have reported eight Vibrio-related deaths this summer, already more than a typical year in those states.
For watermen like Mitchem, the message is straightforward.
“If you’ve got a cut, you’ve got to be careful and go to the doctor sooner rather than later,” he said.