The study, conducted in October 2022 by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Maryland, was based on genome sequencing as well as satellite and environmental data collected off the coast of Lee County, where Hurricane Ian hit directly. 

Researchers from UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and College of Medicine participated in the multidisciplinary study.

Collected water samples in the region revealed the presence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which thrive in warm salt water and can proliferate during hurricanes and floods. It can cause illness or death for people who eat raw or undercooked seafood or go into the ocean with an open wound.

“We were a little surprised at the detection rates, meaning the ease of finding Vibrios in collected samples, since we were not expecting these pathogens weeks after the hurricane,” said Antarpreet S. Jutla, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. “We are even more curious about finding antimicrobial resistance genes in the water and Vibrios samples.”