A second person in Florida has died from Vibrio vulnificus, a rare bacteria that is sometimes described as “flesh-eating,” so far this year, health officials reported.
Vibrio vulnificus and other Vibrio-family bacteria are linked to raw shellfish, particularly oysters, officials say. Vibrio vulnificus is sometimes found in warm, salty, or brackish coastal waters. Brackish water is when salt and fresh water mix, namely where rivers meet oceans.
“Seek medical care immediately if a wound exposed to brackish or salt water becomes red, swollen, painful, warm, or discolored,” Louisiana officials said in a news release last week. “Tell the health care provider about the water exposure.”
Some people become infected by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, but a large percentage fall ill when the person is in ocean or brackish water and the bacteria enter the body through small breaks in the skin.
Vibrio vulnificus can enter the body through unhealed cuts and scrapes, recent piercings and tattoos, and recent surgical incisions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that people should immediately wash cuts and scrapes thoroughly with soap and clean running water after coming in contact with coastal waters or raw seafood.
They should see a doctor if they start to develop symptoms such as fever, chills, and hot red areas on the skin that start to turn dark and blister, officials also said.
“Healthy individuals typically develop a mild disease; however Vibrio vulnificus infections can be a serious concern for people who have weakened immune systems, particularly those with chronic liver disease,” the Florida Department of Health says on its website.
Symptoms of an infection can include fever, chills, dangerously low blood pressure, skin discoloration, redness around a wound, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and watery diarrhea, say officials.
If the bacteria reaches the blood stream, officials warn, it can cause severe and life-threatening illness such as blistering skin lesions, septic shock, fever, and chills.
Meanwhile, the CDC has said that some Vibrio infections can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection where flesh around an open wound dies off. For years, media outlets have described it as a “flesh-eating bacteria,” although the CDC has noted that a type of Streptococcus bacteria is the most common cause of necrotizing fasciitis across the United States.
