Amid recent reports of a deadly bacterial infection spreading in some states, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert.

The bacteria, called “Vibrio vulnificus,” which is described as “flesh-eating,” can be found in raw or undercooked seafood and in salt and brackish water, according to a newspaper report.USA Today“.

The most common way to get infected is when an open wound comes into contact with bacteria in the water, according to a report by the “Website” website.Wired“.

At least 12 people have died from the infection across the United States this year.

About 80,000 people are infected with the bacteria each year. Of those infected, about 100 die from the infection annually in the United States, according to the CDC.

“The warmer the water, the faster the bacteria can reproduce,” researcher Gabby Barberet of Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, Florida, told USA Today.

Infections across the United States increased eightfold from 1988 to 2018, according to research published in the journal “Natural portfolio“, in March, bacteria and infections spread northward along the East Coast at a rate of 30 miles (48.2 km) per year, researchers say.

The bacteria can’t penetrate healthy skin, but they do enter through superficial wounds in the skin, where they “cause inflammation, which causes the death of tissue around the wound and destroys tissues that include skin, fat, and muscle. Over a short period of time,” according to published research.

Many affected people must be admitted to intensive care or have their limbs amputated. About one in five people who become infected die, sometimes within a day or two of being infected, according to the CDC.

The bacteria live naturally in some coastal waters year-round, but appear in high concentrations between May and October, when about 80 percent of infections occur between that time due to high water temperatures.

Hot water promotes bacterial growth.

Researchers attribute the bacteria’s proliferation to climate change, and the CDC estimates that the bacteria could cause 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths each year in the United States.

About 52,000 cases come from eating seafood, and prompt treatment can stop the bacteria’s effects, but neglecting it can cause inflammation.

The CDC sent a warning to health departments and doctors asking patients to take antibiotics immediately, without waiting for lab results or consulting with a specialist.

The bacteria were deadly in late summer, but now they appear earlier in the year.

At least seven deaths from the bacteria were reported in Florida, three deaths in North Carolina and one death each in New York and Connecticut.