Viruses that slay bacteria draw new interest

For people with a damaged liver or too much iron in their blood, enjoying raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico is a deadly gamble. Most of the oysters harbor Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium responsible for almost all seafood-related deaths in the United States. Healthy people shrug off the microbe, but susceptible folks who get a full-blown infection have more than a 50 percent chance of dying.