Category Archives: Vibrio vulnificans

WKRG 

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The third case of Vibrio in 2018 has been reported to the Mobile County Health Department (MCHD). The case is currently under investigation by MCHD’s Infectious Diseases & Outbreak division.

MCHD says the exposure took place while cleaning crabs in the coastal waters of Mobile Bay. The species has been identified as Vibrio vulnificus. Necrotizing fasciitis — an infection that results in the death of the body’s soft tissue — was present in this case.

Vibrio bacteria naturally live in certain coastal waters and are present in higher concentrations between May and October when water temperatures are warmer. However, the bacteria can be present throughout the year in some areas. While Vibrio bacteria can enter the body through a break in the skin, it can also come from consuming contaminated seafood.

The Alabama Department of Public Health has issued a news release titled “Do not enter bodies of water if you have cuts or abrasions; if injured, clean wound at once to reduce risk of infection.” Here is the link: http://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/news/2018/06/15.html/

Of the more than 70 species of Vibrio that exist, about a dozen can cause human illness — known as Vibriosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year in the United States 80,000 individuals become sick with Vibriosis, and 100 people die from their infection. About 52,000 of these illnesses are estimated to be the result of eating contaminated food.

Outbreak News Today 

Image CDC Enter a caption

The Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) reported Monday on the second case of Vibrio in 2018.  The species has been identified as Vibrio vulnificus.

The exposure took place while swimming in either Mobile Bay or Gulf of Mexico waters. Necrotizing fasciitis — an infection that results in the death of the body’s soft tissue — was not present in this case. The case is currently under investigation by MCHD’s Infectious Diseases & Outbreak division.

News and Tribune

CAMDEN, NJ (RNN) – A 60-year-old father is hospitalized in intensive care after his family says he contracted flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing in a New Jersey river.

Doctors say Angel Perez, 60, developed necrotizing fasciitis, caused by a variety of Vibrio bacteria. The father is now in the ICU at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, according to NJ Advance Media.

Perez’s daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan, says her father is an avid crabber. She says hours after he went crabbing near the Maurice River on July 2, his right leg began to swell then quickly got worse.

“It turned brown, blackish color. It was swelling, it was blistered,” Perez-Dilan told WPVI.

According to Perez’s family, it only took a few hours for the infection to spread to all four of his limbs, turning his skin raw and red with blisters and scarring.

“He is in critical condition,” Perez-Dilan told NJ Advance Media. “The infection has spread to his blood…his skin; you can see it spreading from his feet all the way above his kneecap. His forearms are black in color; they have blisters, cuts and sores.”