Flesh-Eating Bacteria Caused The Life Of A Man Four Days After Contact

Centers for Disease Control reported that every year, around 800,000 people is infected with vibriosis. Reports show that one man is infected and resulted in death.

People can be infected by vibriosis from eating shellfish that is raw or undercooked. The common symptoms would be vomiting and diarrhea. But, Micheal Funk dies because of bacterial infection caused by vibriosis.

In a report by Daily Times, Michael Funk was in Ocean City last Sept. 11. He was cleaning crab pots as he and his wife are getting ready to return home in Phoenix for the winter. That is where the unfortunate event happened. In the murky water a flesh eating bacteria called Vibrio vulnificus lurked from the water and contact with his cut leg. Several hours after he began to feel ill.

The infection spread fast.His wife Marcia, described that the infection is inflamed and full of lesions. They found that the bacteria were in his bloodstream. She told the newspaper that the infection is something out of a horror movie.

According to the Florida Department of Health's vibriosis page "The bacterium can invade the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness with symptoms like fever, chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock) and blistering skin lesions. Aggressive attention should be given to the wound site; for patients with wound infections, amputation of the infected limb is sometimes necessary."

Doctors were able to diagnose quickly the flesh-eating bacteria found at Funk. But, it was too late. The experts amputated his leg, but he was already in the severe condition. He was flown to a shock trauma hospital in Baltimore. He died four days after the incident, according to Washington Post. 

The flesh- eating bacteria or Vibrio vulnificus is usually found in brackish waters. Shellfish and oysters can also be found in that type of water, where the temperature is warm and low salinity.

 In line with this, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences conducted a study and found that there is a strong link with the flesh-eating bacteria and global warming. The study suggested that global warming  is strongly associated with the spread of vibrios, an important group of marine prokaryotes, and the emergence of human diseases caused by these pathogens."