SARASOTA, Fla., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Earlier this summer, Florida health officials issued a press release warning beachgoers about the dangers of Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially deadly infectious bacteria that lurks in warm ocean and brackish waters. This week, news of the health scare has circulated online, or "gone viral" as they say.
Usually that's the intent of the press release. But one official with Florida's Department of Health says reporters have supplied their stories with some rather alarming and inaccurate language -- specifically the words, "flesh-eating bacteria" or "flesh-eating virus."