.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
What is causing Florida beachgoer deaths
Last year saw 19 deaths and 82 cases, a significant increase attributed to late-season hurricanes Milton and Helene, which caused saltwater to move inland.
Vibrio vulnificus infections, though rare, can be fatal, especially for those with weakened immune systems, and can lead to severe outcomes like amputation.
The bacterium naturally occurs in brackish seawater and spreads through open cuts or by consuming raw shellfish, particularly oysters.
Experts warn that climate change exacerbates these risks, and recent research indicates Vibrio pathogens are adapting to stick to microplastics and sargassum blooms.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ben Askren shares tearful update as former UFC star is finally released from hospital
Ben Askren shared a tearful thank-you message on Tuesday, as the former UFC star was finally released from hospital after undergoing a successful double lung transplant. Askren, a former Olympic wrestler and MMA champion, retired from combat sports in 2021 at the age of 36. But this spring, at just 40, the American suddenly faced a complicated health issue. His wife, Amy, revealed that Askren was battling 'severe pneumonia', and a concerning episode eventually led to the ex-fighter having a double lung transplant. In early July, Askren addressed fans for the first time since his health scare began, appearing emotional in a video that showed how much weight and energy he had lost. ' I only died four times, where the ticker stopped for about 20 seconds,' he said at the time. Now, Askren has shared another tearful update, yet a more celebratory one. Having finally been released from hospital, Askren said in a social-media video on Tuesday: 'Day 59, I'm out! With my beautiful wife supportive. 'That was a long journey, and it's not over because I still can't really walk. I have to re-teach myself to do that among many other things. I guess I can make light of it because it was me and I don't really remember it. But Amy how close was I to dying?' Askren turned to his wife, who replied, 'Too close, a few times,' before Askren continued: 'I remember [that] I don't remember 35 days of this journey, but I think surgery was 24, 25 days ago. It was hard. It was hard.' Becoming tearful, Askren said: 'I've said this already in one of the videos, but the support you guys gave me – whether it was setting up a GoFundMe, whether it was helping my kids and wife get through it, I had friends come from all over the country just to hang out for a couple of days – it meant so much. It was so great to have all the support and all the love. 'Hopefully I'm not in this situation again for a really, really, really long time; I plan on living a while. So, thank you guys again for all of the positive support, all of the comments online, everything. It means so much, love you guys.' Askren went to the 2008 Olympics as a Team USA wrestler, before beginning an MMA career in which he won the Bellator and ONE welterweight titles and stayed unbeaten until his final two fights. His last three fights all took place in the UFC in 2019, as he submitted Robbie Lawler before suffering a record-setting five-second knockout by Jorge Masvidal and a submission by Demian Maia. Askren then boxed once, facing YouTuber Jake Paul in 2021 and falling to a first-round knockout. He has not competed in any combat sport since.
Reuters
6 minutes ago
- Reuters
Rising seas and shifting sands attack ancient Alexandria from below
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, July 23 (Reuters) - From her ninth-floor balcony over Alexandria's seafront, Eman Mabrouk looked down at the strip of sand that used to be the wide beach where she played as a child. "The picture is completely different now," she said. The sea has crept closer, the concrete barriers have got longer and the buildings around her have cracked and shifted. Every year 40 of them collapse across Egypt's second city, up from one on average a decade ago, a study shows. The storied settlement that survived everything from bombardment by the British in the 1880s to attacks by crusaders in the 1160s is succumbing to a subtler foe infiltrating its foundations. The warming waters of the Mediterranean are rising, part of a global phenomenon driven by climate change. In Alexandria, that is leading to coastal erosion and sending saltwater seeping through the sandy substrate, undermining buildings from below, researchers say. "This is why we see the buildings in Alexandria being eroded from the bottom up," said Essam Heggy, a water scientist at the University of Southern California who co-wrote the study published in February describing a growing crisis in Alexandria and along the whole coast. The combination of continuous seawater rises, ground subsidence and coastal erosion means Alexandria's coastline has receded on average 3.5 metres a year over the last 20 years, he told Reuters. 'For many people who see that climatic change is something that will happen in the future and we don't need to worry about it, it's actually happening right now, right here," Heggy said. The situation is alarming enough when set out in the report - "Soaring Building Collapses in Southern Mediterranean Coasts" in the journal "Earth's Future". For Mabrouk, 50, it has been part of day-to-day life for years. She had to leave her last apartment when the building started moving. "It eventually got slanted. I mean, after two years, we were all ... leaning," she told Reuters. "If you put something on the table, you would feel like it was rolling." Egypt's government has acknowledged the problem and promised action. Submerged breakwaters reduce coastal wave action and truckloads of sand replenish stripped beaches. Nine concrete sea barriers have been set up "to protect the delta and Alexandria from the impact of rising sea waves," Alexandria's governor, Ahmed Khaled Hassan, said. The barriers stretch out to sea, piles of striking geometric shapes, their clear curves and lines standing out against the crumbling, flaking apartment blocks on the land. Authorities are trying to get in ahead of the collapses by demolishing buildings at risk. Around 7,500 were marked for destruction and 55,000 new housing units will be built, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a crowd as he stood on one of the concrete barriers on July 14. "There isn't a day that passes without a partial or complete collapse of at least one building that already had a demolition order," Madbouly said. Some are hopeful the measures can make a difference. "There are no dangers now ... They have made their calculations," coffee shop owner Shady Mostafa said as he watched builders working on one of the barriers. Others are less sure. Alexandria's 70-km (45-mile) long coastal zone was marked down as the most vulnerable in the whole Mediterranean basin in the February report. Around 2% of the city's housing stock – or about 7,000 buildings – were probably unsafe, it added. Every day, more people are pouring into the city - Alexandria's population has nearly doubled to about 5.8 million in the last 25 years, swollen by workers and tourists, according to Egypt's statistics agency CAPMAS. Property prices keep going up, despite all the risks, trackers show. Sea levels are rising across the world, but they are rising faster in the Mediterranean than in many other bodies of water, partly because the relative shallowness of its sea basin means it is warming up faster. The causes may be global, but the impacts are local, said 26-year-old Alexandria resident Ahmed al-Ashry. "There's a change in the buildings, there's a change in the streets," he told Reuters. "Every now and then we try to renovate the buildings, and in less than a month, the renovations start to fall apart. Our neighbours have started saying the same thing, that cracks have started to appear."
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Ben Askren's wife admits he was ‘too close' to dying ‘a few times' as ex-UFC star leaves hospital after eight weeks
BEN ASKREN'S wife admits he was 'too close' to dying after the former UFC star left hospital. Askren, 41, was rushed to the ER last month with a severe case of pneumonia. 3 3 3 The UFC legend was forced to undergo a double lung transplant. And Askren revealed 12 days ago that he 'died four times' on the operating table. The former welterweight star had been in hospital for eight whole weeks as he recovered from surgery. But Askren has now been released back home after a gruelling time away. He appeared with wife Amy to give fans an update on his condition. And Askren's other half revealed that he had been 'too close' to passing away throughout his ordeal. Askren first said: 'What's up guys? Day 59, I'm out. 'That was a long journey and it's not over because I still can't really walk, gotta re-teach myself to do that among many other things. 'I guess I can make light of it because it was me… and I don't really remember it, but Amy, how close was I to dying?' Wife Amy replied: 'Too close, a few times.' Askren added: 'Hopefully I'm not in this situation again for a really, really long time. I plan on living a while.' Askren's emotional message came a week after he opened up on his lungs getting 'stolen.' He said: 'I'm gonna plead guilty, I felt bad for myself one time. 'And that doesn't do anyone any good. 'Man, I never smoked one cigarette.' Never smoked any weed, why did my lungs get stolen from me? 'Why isn't this happening to someone who smokes? Then I realised, it happened. I can be bitter and angry, I could whine and cry, but that's not going to help anybody. 'I am where I am now and I'm going to move forward the best that I can.'
