12 y/o Girl Infected With Flesh Eating Bacteria
The Vibrio vulnificus bacteria thrives in warm salty or brackish water. It can cause a flesh-eating disease that can sometimes result in amputations or death.
In the southeastern US, people can contract a Vibrio infection after wading in this water with an open wound or eating raw shellfish from the water.
A new case report has confirmed that this flesh-eating bacteria is spreading beyond its traditional region, in part due to warming ocean temperatures caused by climate change.
In the Chesapeake Bay and along the Gulf Coast, people can contract a dangerous flesh-eating bacterial infection after eating or handling raw shellfish.
Infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus can result in tissue death, and sometimes lead to limb amputations. Fortunately they're also rare in the US.
But a case report published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that rising ocean temperatures may lead the bacteria to spread to previously unaffected waters.
"In 2017, we saw three cases of severe skin infections, which raised some flags," Dr. Katherine Doktor, an infectious disease specialist at Cooper University Hospital who co-wrote the report, told Business Insider. "In 2018, we saw two more. These five cases are significant because in the eight years prior to 2017, we only saw one case of Vibrio vulnificus at our institution."
To read this article in its entirety CLICK HERE.
In the southeastern US, people can contract a Vibrio infection after wading in this water with an open wound or eating raw shellfish from the water.
A new case report has confirmed that this flesh-eating bacteria is spreading beyond its traditional region, in part due to warming ocean temperatures caused by climate change.
In the Chesapeake Bay and along the Gulf Coast, people can contract a dangerous flesh-eating bacterial infection after eating or handling raw shellfish.
Infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus can result in tissue death, and sometimes lead to limb amputations. Fortunately they're also rare in the US.
But a case report published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that rising ocean temperatures may lead the bacteria to spread to previously unaffected waters.
"In 2017, we saw three cases of severe skin infections, which raised some flags," Dr. Katherine Doktor, an infectious disease specialist at Cooper University Hospital who co-wrote the report, told Business Insider. "In 2018, we saw two more. These five cases are significant because in the eight years prior to 2017, we only saw one case of Vibrio vulnificus at our institution."
To read this article in its entirety CLICK HERE.
