Florida's Supposed ‘Flesh-Eating' Bacteria Claims Seven Lives

By Sara Jerome
@sarmje

Florida officials are warning residents about dangerous water-borne bacteria responsible for a rising number of deaths this summer.

“Beach season is a welcome time of the year for swimmers and sunbathers, but along with the warm weather comes warm water, and a potential health hazard: Florida health officials are issuing their yearly warning to swimmers about the dangers of a flesh-eating bacteria that has caused [several] deaths already this year,” Consumerist reported.

In Florida, the death toll this year has climbed to seven, amid 13 reported cases, according to Florida health regulators. In one case recorded in June, “a 26-year-old man went for a swim at a beach in Florida’s Hernando County and contracted a bacterial infection that killed him two days later,” Newsweek reported.

The bacterium in question is known as Vibrio vulnificus. It thrives in warm saltwater. Florida officials have taken issue with news reports characterizing the bacteria as “flesh-eating.” Mara Burger, press secretary with the Florida Department of Health, explained this to Santa Rosa’s Press Gazette.

“Vibrio vulnificus is not a flesh-eating bacteria. Vibrio vulnificus infections, if left untreated, can lead to a serious complication where the body’s affected soft tissues are damaged,” she said. “This complication is known as necrotizing fasciitis.”

Most people who become ill will not die, according to Newsweek: “For the most part, a person who acquires an infection will recover and won’t experience any lasting long-term effects. If an infection progresses to the bloodstream and causes skin ulcerations there is a potential to develop gangrene, or decomposition of body tissue, which may require skin-grafting or amputation. Approximately 50 percent of patients who develop a bloodstream infection will die.”

The bacteria are “in the same family as those that cause cholera,” the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported. Illness caused by these bacteria are rare, but also underreported, CDC explained:

Between 1988 and 2006, CDC received reports of more than 900 V. vulnificus infections from the Gulf Coast states, where most cases occur. Before 2007, there was no national surveillance system for V. vulnificus, but CDC collaborated with the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi to monitor the number of cases of V. vulnificus infection in the Gulf Coast region. In 2007, infections caused by V. vulnificus and other Vibrio species became nationally notifiable.

For similar news, visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.

Image credit: "Vibrio Cells 1," Anthony D'Onofrio © 2011, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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