Texan infected with flesh-eating bacteria while swimming

Miia · Gold Member Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 388

Steve Gilpatrick, a 58-year-old man from Texan, got struck by a flesh eating bacteria after going for a swim at Galveston County's Crystal Beach.
Doctors said his condition is critical but stable but that he still may be in danger of losing his life.

He is suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by a bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus. He is also suffering multiple organ failure because the disease has caused a blood infection.

This type of bacterium lives in warm salt water and represents danger for patients with compromised immune systems. To enter the body, the bacterium needs a point of entry, such as an open wound. Gilpatrick is diabetic and he had an ulcer on his lower leg that had nearly healed. Three days after, his leg became infected and he got a high fever.

This type of bacterium can also be contracted by eating contaminated seafood and is the cause of almost all seafood-related deaths in the United States. Diseases caused by Vibrio vulnificus are quite rare though.

Health experts say that healthy swimmers have no reason to worry and that they are not in danger of the bacterium. But those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer or chronic liver disease with open wounds or sores shouldn't go swimming in the Gulf in the summer time.

Necrotizing fasciitis can be caused by several bacteria but Vibrio vulnificus infections are not as common. The doctors receives only two or three cases in a year.

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Health experts say that healthy swimmers have no reason to worry and that they are not in danger of the bacterium. But those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer or chronic liver disease with open wounds or sores shouldn't go swimming in the Gulf in the summer time.

Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that naturally occurs in warm salt waters where some molluscan shellfish are harvested. Its true that people with chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer or with open wounds are very much prone with the killing virus.

Texan infected with flesh-eating bacteria while swimming

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