Texas Man Contracted 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria At The Beach, Fighting For Life

A 50-year-old man is now fighting for his life in a Houston hospital after contracting an infection from "flesh-eating" bacteria. He developed boils on his leg, forcing doctors to amputate it, while he was swimming in the ocean during a family trip.

Brian Parrott, 50, from Jacinto, Texas went on a beach trip with his family, but what happened days after the trip was something he never saw coming. Parrott became very sick on the succeeding days after the trip and was transported to the hospital by ambulance on Thursday to LBJ Hospital. Doctors performed a below-the-knee amputation to save his life from the deadly infection "flesh-eating" bacteria was causing.

According to the Daily Mail, Parrott's mother Donna Dailey described the sudden infection, saying: 'You go swimming with your family on Sunday, you go to work on Monday, you have a red leg on Tuesday, Wednesday you have boils on your leg, Thursday you lose the leg.'

Hospital official have yet to identify the bacteria that caused Parrott's leg to be amputated, but they suspect it to be Vibrio, a flesh-eating bacteria that lurks in coastal waters and can infect people through open wounds or undercooked shellfish. Fox News reported that the bacteria is rarely fatal, but can prove to be very deadly under certain circumstances.

"He was sitting at the side of the beach for quite a while with his granddaughter, then he went into the water for a couple of hours," Dailey said. She also said that her son didn't realize the risk to his health. Parrott, a known diabetic has a weakened immune system brought about by his condition. The bacteria may have entered his body through a small cut on his skin.

Chron.com reported that he probably didn't know that anyone with a cut or open wound should avoid bathing in saltwater or at least wear a waterproof bandage on it. Also, warm weather increases the risk of infection.

Nydailynews.com reported Dailey telling KHOU.com, "The problem I have is he didn't know about it." "If (his family) had known about it, they surely wouldn't have put (my) great-grandkids or his grandkids" in the water," Dailey continued.

Dailey also said she was anxiously waiting for news whether her son would love before they can question why there was no warning signs posted around the beach. 'We want to get the word out, and that's the main thing. There's nothing more that we can do for my son but maybe we can save somebody else,' she said.

The Center for Disease Control said that Vibrio causes roughly 80,000 illnesses each year in the country; about 52,000 of these cases are due to eating shellfish. In 2015, there were a total of eight cases reported by Galveston's health department.