"A so-called flesh-eating bacterium that thrives in warm seawater has killed at least seven people this year along the Gulf Coast, officials said.

Two people in Florida and five in Louisiana have died from vibrio vulnificus, which lurks in warm coastal waters and can enter the body through open wounds or from eating raw shellfish. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said about 1 in 5 people with the bacteria do die.

Summerlin Skipworth was spending her Labor Day weekend last year at Alabama's Orange Beach when she hurt her foot against rocks along the shore.

"It felt like it was broken," she said.

Within a few days, Skipworth said, the pain spiked, sending her to the emergency room."

Mark Strassmann and Alex Sundby report for CBS News August 10, 2026. [2]