Just about any time of the 12 months on the American Gulf Coast, oysters are plentiful on restaurant eating tables. The Gulf-grown bivalves are a staple crop for the area’s fishing {industry} and a beloved element of seafood feasts, served uncooked on the half-shell or broiled with bacon and breadcrumbs into oysters Rockefeller. 

Now, although, issues round Gulf oysters are rising following a serious outbreak of Vibrio vulnificus, typically described as “flesh-eating micro organism,” within the state of Louisiana. Beginning in June, circumstances of Vibrio vulnificus an infection started popping up throughout Louisiana, sickening greater than two dozen individuals and leaving 5 useless. Vibrio infections turn out to be extra frequent through the summer season months, as hotter waters present a extra appropriate breeding floor for the micro organism. Based on the Louisiana Division of Well being, that is a major improve over earlier years—throughout the final decade, the company has usually solely seen about ten circumstances of vibrio an infection every year. 

For individuals who are unfamiliar with Vibrio, it is a genus of micro organism with greater than 100 totally different variants, a few of which might trigger a extreme illness known as vibriosis in people. Based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), Vibrio vulnificus is among the many most harmful of those variants, and as many as 1 in 5 people who find themselves contaminated with the micro organism die. Others might require limb amputation or prolonged hospitalization.

Vibrio has lengthy been a priority for oyster lovers, however these issues have grown in recent times because of warming waters attributable to local weather change. Within the final 30 years, Vibrio vulnificus infections have elevated “eightfold,” and as water temperatures proceed to rise, these infections will solely turn out to be extra frequent.

Does that imply that it is best to cease consuming Gulf oysters, although? Because it seems, the reply is a bit more sophisticated than you may assume.

Based on the Louisiana Division of Well being, 85% of this 12 months’s Vibrio vulnificus circumstances weren’t from consuming oyster however from publicity to brackish or coastal waters, like strolling into the Gulf with an open wound. “It simply occurs,” says Dr. Keith Schneider, a professor of meals security on the College of Florida’s Institute of Meals and Agricultural Sciences. “Any individual steps on an oyster shell, or goes swimming with a minimize in an estuary the place the Vibrio vulnificus micro organism is current.” As for the deaths, a Louisiana Division of Well being spokesperson declined to inform Severe Eats whether or not any had been linked to oyster consumption, citing affected person confidentiality.

Consuming oysters does nonetheless pose a danger of ingesting the Vibrio vulnificus micro organism, although, however Schneider says there are a number of ways in which customers can mitigate that danger. His first advice is to comply with a 4,000-year-old piece of recommendation that also holds in the present day: Follow consuming uncooked Gulf oysters in months with the letter “R” in them. “Typically, the previous adage is simply true,” Schneider says. “Hotter waters imply that there are extra pathogens within the water, and now we have seen upticks in [Vibrio] sicknesses in the summertime for many years. These organisms simply thrive in hotter water.”

As soon as the oysters have been pulled out of the water, how they’re dealt with is extremely essential, which implies that it is a good suggestion to get your uncooked Gulf oysters from respected purveyors—and from eating places that deal with and serve them with care. Schneider suggests staying away from the super-cheap uncooked oyster completely happy hour offers, the place a concentrate on low costs and quantity may end in improper dealing with.

“You wish to make it possible for they’re serving you oysters which can be nonetheless alive and wholesome, as a result of if they are not, that micro organism will begin to multiply,” he says. “That is essential, as a result of you’ll be able to’t inform by look or odor if an oyster is dangerous.”

Some individuals, although, might wish to skip uncooked oysters altogether. People who’ve liver situations like hepatitis are far more weak to Vibrio vulnificans an infection from consuming uncooked oysters than those that would not have these situations, and the problems might be life-threatening. Consultants counsel that very younger kids, the aged, immunocompromised, and pregnant individuals ought to in all probability skip uncooked oysters usually, as a result of their immune techniques are much less in a position to combat off an an infection attributable to the micro organism.

Though he is aware of extra about Vibrio than most individuals, Schneider nonetheless enjoys consuming Gulf oysters. “My very own private danger calculus actually is dependent upon the time of the 12 months and the variety of oysters I am planning to devour,” he says. “I haven’t got any liver situations, however I get on up there in age, so perhaps in some unspecified time in the future I’ll cease. However I believe typically the chance is pretty low, particularly if you happen to’re getting them from a good institution.”

By way of preserving the Gulf’s oyster inhabitants as wholesome as potential, there are a selection of techniques in place to observe the waters by which they’re caught, in addition to the oysters themselves. Businesses like Louisiana’s Molluscan Shellfish Program monitor the manufacturing of oysters and require producers to make use of transport tags that can be utilized to trace particular baggage of the bivalves within the occasion of an outbreak. “The well being companies react rapidly to those outbreaks,” Schneider says. “If there’s an outbreak, they are going to have the ability to discover that precise batch of oysters and pull it off the shelf.” 

Oyster producers are additionally experimenting with new-to-the-industry applied sciences to cut back Vibrio infections in uncooked oysters. At Status Oysters in Dickinson, Texas, a technique known as high-pressure processing (HPP) is used to concurrently separate the oyster meat from its shell and nearly remove foodborne pathogens like Vibrio micro organism, whereas extending the shelf lifetime of the oyster. The result’s a uncooked however protected oyster that is able to slurp, with a decrease danger of sickness. The draw back: Many customers don’t like the best way that the HPP course of adjustments the feel and contemporary taste of the uncooked oyster, even whether it is much less prone to make them sick.

For those who actually wish to be as protected as potential, there is a easy answer: Simply eat cooked oysters. Warmth kills Vibrio micro organism, and only a few minutes of cooking can all however remove your danger of getting sick. The CDC recommends boiling or frying oysters in scorching oil for 3 minutes, or roasting them within the oven at 450°F for 10 minutes to make sure that all micro organism have been killed by the warmth. You must, nevertheless, ignore the city legends that scorching sauce, lemon juice, or alcohol will kill the micro organism—none of those “treatments” are supported by analysis.