At least one person is dead and three others were sickened in Louisiana after coming down with Vibrio vulnificus, a type of “flesh-eating bacteria.”
They contracted the illness after swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, health officials told the Houston Chronicle.
Four swimmers were infected with the “flesh-eating” Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which is naturally occurring and found in warm water. They were swimming near New Orleans and Thibodaux.
The person who died was an 83-year-old Terrebonne Parish man who had an open wound that was splashed with water containing the bacteria.
“You get bacteria into certain wounds, and they can cause a lot of tissue destruction by virtue of the fact that these bacteria produce enzymes that break down the tissue,” Dr. Peter Hotez, an expert at Baylor College of Medicine, told ABC-13 in Houston.
He said that people can also contract it via eating raw shellfish.
“We know people are venturing into our state’s waterways to cool off this summer, so we advise them to be careful and exercise health precautions,” Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert said, according to TheTownTalk.com.
She added: “We certainly do not mean to discourage people from enjoying water activities, but we want them to understand the potential risks involved. DHH works with other state and local partners to monitor and test beach water to inform residents of the water quality and we hope residents will heed posted beach advisories when they see them.”
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