A recent surge in deadly infections, including flesh-eating bacteria along the Gulf Coast and a rare case of pneumonic plague in Arizona, has drawn eerie comparisons to the biblical plagues of Egypt and prophetic descriptions of the end-of-days War of Gog and Magog. Some Jewish scholars and rabbis see these unusual outbreaks not merely as medical anomalies, but as divine wake-up calls, echoing prophetic visions from Zechariah and Exodus about flesh decaying mid-stance and boils afflicting man and beast, harbingers, they warn, of a fast-approaching Messianic era.
A concerning rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus—a rare but potentially deadly bacterium often referred to as “flesh-eating”—has prompted health warnings across Gulf Coast states, particularly Louisiana and Florida.
So far in 2025, at least eight people have died and 22 others have been infected by the bacteria, which thrives in warm coastal waters. The Louisiana Department of Health reported 17 confirmed cases this year, all requiring hospitalization, and four resulting in death. That’s more than double the average annual number of infections in the state over the past decade.
“This represents a higher number of Vibrio vulnificus cases and deaths than are typically reported,” the Louisiana health department noted in an official advisory. Historically, the state has seen around seven cases and one death during the same timeframe.
Florida officials have also raised alarms. As of July 24, the Florida Department of Health confirmed 13 cases in 2025, with four deaths. Public health agencies across the Gulf are urging residents and visitors to take precautions, particularly those with underlying health conditions.
Vibrio vulnificus is a strain of Vibrio bacteria, commonly found in saltwater and brackish environments, where freshwater and saltwater mix. While several types of Vibrio can cause illness (a condition known as vibriosis), V. vulnificus is the most dangerous.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, infections can progress quickly and cause blistering skin lesions, fever, sepsis, internal bleeding, organ failure, and in some cases, necrotizing fasciitis—a severe infection that kills flesh around an open wound. Although many experts caution against calling V. vulnificus a true “flesh-eating” bacterium (since other microbes are more common causes of necrotizing fasciitis), it is still among the most lethal pathogens found in marine environments.
Only about 100 to 200 cases of V. vulnificus are confirmed each year, according to the CDC. There are two main ways people contract Vibrio vulnificus:
- Eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, which may carry the bacteria.
- Exposing an open wound—including small cuts, piercings, or tattoos—to contaminated saltwater or brackish water.
The risk is most significant from May to October, when coastal waters are warmest. Healthy individuals are less likely to suffer severe illness. Still, those with weakened immune systems, chronic liver or kidney disease, diabetes, or other underlying conditions face a significantly higher risk of complications, including death.
It should be noted that the Bible prohibits eating shellfish. To be classified as Kosher for consumption, seafood must have fins and scales. People who adhere to this Biblical commandment are at much less risk of contracting this horrific disease.
Both Louisiana and Florida health departments have issued advisories encouraging residents and beachgoers to take crucial but straightforward precautions:
- Avoid eating raw oysters or shellfish. Cook seafood thoroughly.
- Wash hands after handling raw seafood.
- Do not enter salt or brackish water with open wounds, fresh tattoos, or recent piercings.
- If you must enter the water, use waterproof bandages and wear foot protection to guard against cuts from shells or rocks.
- People with health conditions that weaken the immune system should take extra precautions, including avoiding warm coastal waters altogether.
Infections caused by other types of Vibrio are far more common, with about 80,000 cases reported in the U.S. annually, primarily from foodborne exposure. However, Vibrio vulnificus is uniquely dangerous and disproportionately responsible for the most severe and fatal cases of vibriosis.
For now, the Gulf Coast remains the region most affected—and health officials are urging people not to panic, but to stay informed and cautious.
“Simple choices—like wearing protective footwear or skipping raw oysters—can save lives,” said one Louisiana health official. “Especially during peak summer months, awareness is the first step in prevention.”
Rabbi Rami Levy, an end-of-days lecturer from Jerusalem, noted that the technical description of the disease closely resembles the plague described by Zechariah.
As for those peoples that warred against Yerushalayim, Hashem will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths. Zechariah 14:12
“The prophet described a disease that would accompany the War of Gog and Magog,” Rabbi Levy told Israel365 News. “The current outbreak is exceptional and appears to fit the prophet’s description but it is not nearly on the scale of what we will see before Moshiach (Messiah)”
“The plague that comes after Gog and Magog will be even worse than the Bubonic Plague the world saw in the Middle Ages, destroying a significant part of the world population,” Rabbi Levy said. “But it will afflict specifically the people who came out against the Jews. It is unfortunate that these people suffered, and even though it is impossible to definitively state why misfortunes hit some people and not others, these recent cases of flesh-eating disease in England do not seem to fit the description of [the] striking of people who came out against Jerusalem.”
The rabbi noted that this recent outbreak has a clear message, warning against sexual promiscuity.
“Right now we are just seeing wake-up calls, reminders that Moshiach is on the way,” Rabbi Levy said. “God works in stages. He could have created the world in one moment, but he chose to do it in six days. The sunrise and sunset are gradual, coming in stages. The Messiah will work in the same way. There will be hints, small occurrences that will reappear in the final days.”
“This is God’s way of showing that even though many of the prophecies seem unlikely or even impossible, they are possible,” Rabbi Levy said. “It gives us a chance to see that everything prophesied about the Messiah can, indeed, happen, and we need to prepare now and not when they appear in fullness. But by then, it will be too late.”
While it seems improbable that ancient diseases plague mankind in the age of modern medical wonders, the Bubonic Plague, the form of the plague that killed millions during the Middle Ages, has once again appeared in the US. A person died from pneumonic plague in Arizona last week, the first death from the disease in this region in nearly two decades. Health and Human Services (CCHHS) officials received confirmatory test results on July 11, 2025, verifying that a Coconino County resident died from pneumonic plague—a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. This is the first recorded death from Pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007, when an individual had an interaction with a dead animal infected with the disease.
The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, can be transmitted to animals through bites from infected fleas. The disease can be transmitted to humans from the bite of an infected flea or through contact with an infected animal.
The Bubonic plague in the 14th century, also known as the Black Death, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and Europe. If untreated, the disease has a 100 percent mortality rate, and the pneumonic form can be fatal within 12-24 hours.
The Bubonic Plague is making a comeback, with close to 50,000 human cases being diagnosed in the last two decades. The World Health Organization now categorizes it as a re-emerging disease. The last outbreak of the bubonic plague in the U.S. was in 1924 and was centered in Los Angeles.
The sixth plague in Egypt, boils, may very well have been the bubonic plague, whose characteristic symptom is boil-like skin lesions that form black ulcers.
It shall become a fine dust all over the land of Egypt, and cause an inflammation breaking out in boils on man and beast throughout the land of Egypt. Exodus 9:9
The connection between the Bubonic Plague and Egypt was proven in 2010 when scientists traced the plague to ancient Egypt. Ancient cultures lived close to their livestock, and the plague was transferred from the animals by fleas. While exploring ruins in Egypt, Egyptologists found 3,000-year-old remains of Nile rats and used fine sieves to discover the remains of fleas, both carriers of the plague.
The plague of שחין (shechin; boils) is prophesied to return in the end-of-days by Zechariah, as are all the plagues that struck Egypt before the Exodus.
As for those peoples that warred against Yerushalayim, Hashem will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths. Zechariah 14:12
Jewish sources predict that all of the plagues will reappear in the final Redemption, but in even more powerful forms. This reload of the Egyptian plagues was prophesied by Micah.
I will show him wondrous deeds As in the days when You sallied forth from the land of Egypt. Micah 7:15
It is also written in Midrash Tanchuma, homiletic teachings collected around the fifth century, that “just as God struck the Egyptians with 10 plagues, so too He will strike the enemies of the Jewish people at the time of the Redemption.”
This concept was explained by Rabbi Bahya ben Asher, a 13th-century Spanish commentator, who wrote, “In Egypt, God used only part of His strength. When the final redemption comes, God will show much, much more of His power.”
As terrifying as the threat of a natural pandemic is, a reload of the Bubonic Plague may appear as a result of the hand of man rather than the hand of God. Indeed, Bill Gates addressed the Munich Security Conference in 2017, saying that terrorists would use biological weapons to create a pandemic that would kill tens of millions. Gates estimated that such a plot was a “reasonable probability” within 10-15 years and would kill an estimated 30 million people in less than a year.
We may be closer to this plague than ever before—and, paradoxically, it could be our own medical expertise that leads to our downfall. The US Department of Defense is currently investigating possible mishandling of samples of anthrax and bubonic plague in its laboratories. The samples were shipped to other labs, including those outside of the United States. It would not take much human error or nefarious plots to release these nightmares.