NBC News58%

Louisiana warns against flesh-eating bacteria after five deaths 52%

By Matt Lavietes66%

8/8/2026, 12:35:18 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Indoctrination, Appeal to Authority, and Representativeness Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 21.9% saturation with 69 hits. Analysis detected 422 faulty-reasoning hits from 315 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.4% and a BS Rank of 52% (14,791 of 30,584 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 51.60% of the article peer group.

Louisiana health officials are urging residents to take precautions against a flesh-eating bacterial infection following the deaths of five people this year. 
The Louisiana Department of Health issued a warning about the infection, known as Vibrio vulnificus, in a press release on Thursday. 
The department said nine people have been infected this year and five have died. 
By comparison, Louisiana averaged seven cases and one death annually over the previous 10 years during the same time period. 
All of this year’s reported cases were linked to wounds exposed to seawater, and all patients had underlying health conditions, the department added. 
Vibrio bacteria naturally live in coastal waters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is more common in the summer when water temperatures rise. 
People can contract the infection by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, or when an open wound comes into contact with coastal waters, the CDC says. 
About 1 in 5 people with a Vibrio vulnificus infection die, according to the agency. 
While anyone can be infected, the Louisiana Department of Health said those most at risk include people with liver disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV or thalassemia; people undergoing immune-suppressing treatment; people taking medication that reduces stomach acid; and people who recently had stomach surgery. 
Symptoms include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills, according to the CDC. 
The department urged residents to seek medical care immediately if a wound exposed to brackish or salt water becomes red, swollen, painful, warm or discolored, and to tell their health care provider about the water exposure. 
Louisiana saw a similar spike in Vibrio infection last year, with at least 17 cases were reported in the state. 
At least 10 people in Florida, Louisiana and the Outer Banks of North Carolina died from the infection last year, according to health officials. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.8%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 6.3%Matt Lavietes: 3.2%NBC News: 0.7%Anchoring Bias6.3%This article: 4.4%Matt Lavietes: 2.3%NBC News: 2.5%Availability Heuristic4.4%This article: 13.7%Matt Lavietes: 3.4%NBC News: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic13.7%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.6%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.5%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 2.5%Matt Lavietes: 1.3%NBC News: 5.5%Framing Effect2.5%This article: 11.4%Matt Lavietes: 2.9%NBC News: 0.2%Loss Aversion11.4%This article: 7.3%Matt Lavietes: 1.8%NBC News: 0.3%Status Quo Bias7.3%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 2.0%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.2%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 21.9%Matt Lavietes: 10.4%NBC News: 6.4%Negativity Bias21.9%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.6%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.2%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 3.6%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 6.3%Matt Lavietes: 3.2%NBC News: 1.1%Recency Bias6.3%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 17.1%Matt Lavietes: 4.3%NBC News: 2.5%Appeal to Authority17.1%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.0%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 1.6%NBC News: 2.7%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.5%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 4.8%Matt Lavietes: 1.2%NBC News: 4.4%Appeal to Emotion4.8%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 6.3%Matt Lavietes: 1.6%NBC News: 1.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)6.3%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.4%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 6.7%Matt Lavietes: 1.7%NBC News: 1.7%Unattributed Quote6.7%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 1.0%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 3.2%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 18.4%Matt Lavietes: 14.9%NBC News: 0.9%Indoctrination18.4%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Matt Lavietes: 0.0%NBC News: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 6.7%Matt Lavietes: 1.7%NBC News: 0.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…6.7%

315 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers70%attributed speech94writer words
100%flagged-word coverage
137 attributed words62% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%15.0%30.0%Indoctrination+2.9 ptsWriter: 23.4%Louisiana Department of Health: 26.3%26.3%Unattributed Quote+15.3 ptsWriter: 0.0%Louisiana Department of Health: 15.3%15.3%Attempt to Sell a Product +15.3 ptsWriter: 0.0%Louisiana Department of Health: 15.3%15.3%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.