IN Man: Wife Got Flesh-Eating Bacteria from Clearwater Hot Tub

CLEARWATER, FL -- An Indianapolis, Indiana, man believes his wife died from flesh-eating bacteria she picked up from a hot tub at a Clearwater hotel.

Richard Martin told Indianapolis television station WRTV that his 50-year-old wife, Carol, was diagnosed with necrotizing fascitis. The diagnosis was made after she visited her doctor three times following their return from a vacation in Clearwater in February.

While in Clearwater, Carol Martin used the hotel's hot tub. When they returned home, she began to complain about a painful pimple-like sore on her right buttock.

During her first two visits to the doctor, she received prescriptions for various antibiotics but Martin said the sore continued to grow.

On the third visit to the doctor, the doctor did a biopsy of the tissue and discovered she had a bacteria infection called vibrio vulnificus, which can cause necrotizing fascitis. Carol Martin was rushed to the hospital for surgery and spent 16 days in an intensive care unit before she improved and was released from the hospital. Nevertheless, she died unexpectedly at home Saturday, May 5.

“She made me lunch; I kissed her goodbye to go to work. I came home early in the morning and found her passed away,” Martin said told the TV station.

The coroner’s office in Indianapolis has taken tissue samples from Carol Martin to determine if the vibrio vulnificus infection caused her death. However, the results could take several months.

Martin told the local TV station that he isn't "100 percent sure" that his wife came in contact with the bacteria in the hot tub but said she was the only one who used the tub at the hotel during their stay. There have been no other reports of anyone contracting the infection in the Clearwater area.

According to the Florida Department of Health, necrotizing fascitis is a rare, serious skin infection caused by the vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which lives in warm, brackish seawater. The skin infection spreads quickly, killing the body’s soft tissue.

There were 49 people diagnosed with the bacteria in Florida in 2017 with 11 of those people dying from the infection. So far in 2018, there have been no reported cases.

In Pinellas County where the Martins vacationed, there have been five cases since 2016 with two deaths. The Department of Health does not believe a hot tub was the source of the infection in any of those cases.

Nevertheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people with an open wound or skin infection to avoid spending time in whirlpools, hot tubs, swimming pools and natural bodies of water (e.g., lakes, rivers, oceans).

The CDC noted that cases of necrotizing fasciitis do not appear to be on the rise.

To hear Richard Martin's complete interview with television station WRTV, click here.

Image via WRTV and Florida Department of Health