Details Emerge in Recent Seawater Bacteria Deaths

Seawater exposure is to blame in the three latest cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection reported in Florida, state officials have confirmed.

The new cases were recorded in Alachua, Brevard and Citrus counties, Florida Department of Health press secretary Mara Burger confirmed.

“The Brevard and Citrus County patients unfortunately passed away,” Burger told Patch. “They all had seawater exposure.”

The latest cases bring the state’s total for 2015 up to 17. Nine of those cases have resulted in death.

Vibrio vulnificus is a naturally occurring bacteria that lives in warm seawater. Infections are rare, officials say, but the number of cases does tend to rise along with temperatures.

Burger said people can get infected with Vibrio vulnificus in one of two ways – by eating contaminated raw shellfish or through exposure to contaminated water by swimming with open wounds.

See Also:

• Florida Seawater Bacteria Deaths Climb to 9
• Vibrio Vulnificus Death Toll Up to 7
• Florida’s ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria Myths Busted
• ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria Warnings Go Up in Florida
• Florida’s Flesh-Eating Bacteria: What the State Says

So far, this year four cases have been reported in the Tampa Bay area. Of those four, two deaths occurred in Hillsborough County and one in Sarasota. Pasco had a case where the patient recovered, department records show. Pinellas and Manatee counties have had no recorded incidents. Hillsborough’s first death involved a man who was exposed to the bacteria while in Mississippi, Burger said. The second death involved seawater exposure. It is unclear how exposure occurred in the Pasco and Sarasota cases.

Burger stresses the bacteria doesn’t pose risks for normally healthy people who don’t “have open cuts or wounds” who swim in Florida’s salt or brackish waters.

Vibrio vulnificus is often called the “flesh-eating” bacteria, but that’s not an entirely accurate label, Burger said. Most people who come into contact with the bacteria don’t show severe symptoms. Signs of exposure in normally healthy people include such symptoms as stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains on its website that consumption of contaminated shellfish or open-wound exposure among immunocompromised people, “particularly those with chronic liver disease can infect the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure, and blistering skin lesions.”

When open wounds come in contact with Vibrio vulnificus, the CDC says infections that arise “may lead to skin breakdown and ulceration.” When that breakdown of skin tissue occurs, it’s caused by a serious complication, known as Necrotizing Fasciitis. It’s that complication that gives rise to the “flesh-eating” moniker.

”Necrotizing Fasciitis is a rare disease that can be caused by more than one type of bacteria,” Burger said. “These include group A Streptococcus (group A strep), Klebsiella, Clostridium, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Aeromonas hydrophila, among others. Group A strep is considered the most common cause of necrotizing fasciitis. Vibrio vulnificus and Necrotizing Fasciitis are not one in the same.”

To find out more about the bacteria and safety measures that can be taken, visit the Florida Department of Health online.

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