Thread: Flesh-eating bacteria rampant in Florida waters

Flesh-eating bacteria rampant in Florida waters

By Linda Nguyen, Tech Times | July 29, 11:20 PM

Beach-goers may want to be cautious of higher than normal levels of flesh-eating bacteria. This bacteria occurs naturally in waters and thrives in warm, saltwater environments.
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons: Euku)

People headed to Florida beaches may want to proceed with caution. The state has said high levels of flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria have been detected in its waters.

The bacteria was responsible for at least 11 deaths in Florida last year. It is fatal about 50 percent of the time if it gets into people's bloodstreams. It is estimated to be responsible for 100 deaths annually in the United States.

"A person can contract the virus by eating tainted raw shell fish and oysters," said Pamela Crane, Florida Department of Health Deputy press secretary, to the New Times. "And people who swim in seawater who have open wounds are also vulnerable to the bacteria."

The Vibrio bacteria is naturally occurring in Florida waters, but the populations flare up during summer months because the bacteria thrives in warm saltwater. It also thrives in lagoons.

"Since it is naturally found in warm marine waters, people with open wounds can be exposed to Vibrio vulnificus though direct contact with seawater," said the Florida Department of Health in a statement.

This year, 11 Floridians have contracted the bacteria and two have died according to state data. According to Gawker, 59 percent of Florida's beaches aren't tested for bacteria levels.

Vibrio infections have also been reported in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, however, the CDC says it is underreported.

The CDC recommends that people avoid exposing open wounds to warm saltwater and raw shellfish, to wear protective clothing when handling raw shellfish, to cook shellfish thoroughly and avoid food contamination from the raw seafood juices, and to eat shellfish promptly after cooking.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, symptoms in health individuals are diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In higher-risk individuals it may cause fever, shock, skin lesions or sudden chills. Death from the bacteria can occur within two days.

The bacterial infection can be diagnosed by stool, wound or blood cultures using a special growth medium. Antibiotics help, but amputation is sometimes necessary. The CDC also says that people who have weaker immune systems are at a higher risk of contracting the bacteria.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/11...ida-waters.htm

1 Dead, 1 Sickened From Flesh-Eating Bacteria

July 30, 2014 11:08 AM



SARASOTA (CBSMiami/AP) – One person has died and another person fell ill when they contracted a flesh-eating bacteria which can be found in warm salt water.

Sarasota County health officials issued a warning against eating raw oysters and exposing open wounds to coastal and inland waters after two Sarasota people contracted vibrio vulnificus.

Both people, according to officials, were middle-aged and had medically compromising conditions.

Officials said Tuesday that 11 cases were reported statewide in 2014 and 41 cases in 2013.

Vibrio is an infection caused by a bacteria found in warm salt water. It’s in the same family of bacterium that causes cholera.

The Vibrio vulnificus bacteria occur naturally in coastal waters, especially in the summer months. Symptoms include stomach illness, fever or shock after eating raw seafood — especially oysters — or a wound infection after exposure to seawater or brackish water.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/07/30...ting-bacteria/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/call-radica...alaria-308494/

The Science Behind The Rise In Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria In America’s Waterways

BY SAM P.K. COLLINS
POSTED ON AUGUST 1, 2014 AT 2:22 PM
UPDATED: AUGUST 1, 2014 AT 3:27 PM

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Dale LeClair, emerges from the Atlantic Ocean as the top individual finisher of the inaugural Alligator Reef Lighthouse Swim Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, in Islamorada, Fla.

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/FLORIDA KEYS NEWS BUREAU, ANDY NEWMAN

Some vacationers have been getting more than they bargained for during visits to the beach and pools this summer. Vibrio vulnificus – a warm water-dwelling, flesh eating bacteria – has infected more than a dozen people this year, some of whom have succumbed. Recent cases in Florida and the D.C. metropolitan area – including one where a Stafford, Va. man was admitted to a hospital after a swim in the Potomac River – have brought attention to an increase in seawater temperatures that experts say make the bodies of water the perfect breeding ground for deadly bacteria.

In 2011, members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation likened the Chesapeake Bay to “a warm pond with a broth of nutrients at the right temperature to breed algae and bacteria.” According to a report conducted by the environmental group, cases of Vibrio vulnificus more than doubled in the last decade in Virginia and Maryland, a period during which seawater temperatures in the region increased by half of a degree Fahrenheit. The study also identified the increasing presence of mercury, nitrates, and blue green algae in warm bodies of water.

Symptoms of Vibrio vulnificus include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, ulcers and the breakdown of skin. People usually come into contact with the bacteria by consuming raw shellfish and swimming in water with open wounds. While healthy people often experience mild symptoms, people with weakened immune systems have cause for concern, especially those who suffer from liver disease. Studies have shown that risk of Vibrio vulnificus exposure in people with preexisting medical conditions were 30 percent higher than the general population. People who contract Vibrio vulnificus through open wounds may also need amputation to ensure recovery. This week, officials in Florida advised residents against taking dips into water with open wounds and consuming raw oysters and clams after Vibrio vulnificus killed three people in the state.

Unfortunately, Vibrio vulnificus is not the first warm water-dwelling bacteria to wreak havoc on swimmers and marine animals. Last summer, officials in Hartford, Connecticut issued a recall of oysters and clams after more than five people reported seafood-related illnesses. The state’s Bureau of Agriculture later linked the illnesses to a warm water-dwelling bacteria, prompting a suspension of shellfish harvests until the fall, when seawater was expected to cool down.

For the last three years, a brain-eating amoeba by the name of Naegleria fowleri – often confined to fresh water in southern states like Arizona and Texas – has infected and killed people in Kansas, Virginia, and Minnesota who swam in warm rivers, lakes, and improperly chlorinated swimming pools. In February, sea otters living off the Alaskan coast contracted Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a warm water-dwelling bacteria that also causes diarrhea and vomiting. In a 2005 New England Journal of Medicine study about a 2004 outbreak in the region also drew a connection to seawater temperatures that rose above 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research, a group of 17 European marine institutes, produced a 200-page report in 2011 that drew connections between climate change, the increasingly warm ocean waters, and the spread of water-dwelling bacteria. The report predicted millions in future healthcare and environmental costs as a result of exposure to contaminated food by humans and marine animals. Researchers focused primarily on bacteria from the genus of Vibrio, which they considered to be by far the most dangerous, causing gastroenteritis, septicemia, and cholera.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...r-experts-say/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/brain-eatin...person-236083/

Nine-year-old Va. boy dies after swimming in water infected by bug . . .

Now it's in Texas too.

Texas woman fights flesh-eating bacteria

BY JOSHUA FECHTER, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS :
AUGUST 4, 2014 : Updated: August 4, 2014 8:43pm

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AUSTIN -- A Texas woman is recovering after a bout with a flesh-eating bacteria she caught at a Galveston beach.

Michelle O'Brien, a 30-year-old Austin resident, was infected with Vibrio Vulnificus -- a flesh-eating bacteria found in warm bodies of salt water or contaminated raw seafood -- after cutting her foot on an oyster bed Saturday on Galveston Island, ABC13.com reports.

The bacterium can cause fever and chills, decreased blood pressure, skin lesions and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says 50 percent of infections are fatal.

It also attacks the immune system and can destroy areas near an open wound.

Almost a dozen people have died from illnesses caused by the bacterium, WWLP reports.

O'Brien spent five days at Memorial Hermann Hospital, most of which she spent in the ICU, according to KFOR. She was given antibiotics to treat the illness.

"The only reason I still have my foot attached to me is because I got those early antibiotics in," O'Brien told KFOR.

Luis Ostrosky, medical director of infection control at Memorial Hermann told KTRK, "This is a very severe and life-threatening infection that rapidly progresses."

O'Brien was discharged Thursday.

jfechter@express-news.net

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Texas-woman-fights-flesh-eating-bacteria-5667600.php

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f19/massive-red...-coast-309067/

Texas judge treated for flesh-eating bacterium

Posted: Aug 07, 2014 10:20 PM PDTUpdated: Aug 07, 2014 10:20 PM PDT

HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas judge infected with an aggressive flesh-eating bacterium in the Gulf of Mexico says he is recovering.

Orange County justice of the peace Derry Dunn was admitted to a Houston hospital Wednesday night. Doctors told the 69-year-old he could have lost a limb if he had waited a little longer to begin treatment.

Dunn says he was diagnosed with a severe case of vibrio vulnificus (vih-BREE'-oh VUHL'-nihf-ih-kus) on his right leg. Doctors removed dead tissue from his leg about 5 inches long, less than 2 inches wide and about a half-inch deep.

Dunn told the Houston Chronicle Thursday that doctors believe it was treated in time to save the leg.

Dunn says he became infected in late July in Crystal Beach when he retrieved his grandson from the water.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/26...ting-bacterium

http://www.alipac.us/f19/gulf-mexico...eria-m-309183/