An elderly Floridian has become the first person to die from an extremely rare flesh-eating bacterium this year, healths officials announced.
The Palm Beach County patient died after contracting Vibrio vulnificus, a life-threatening infection brought on by tainted coastal waters and eating raw oysters, the Palm Beach Post reported.
It’s not clear when the victim died, but they were between the ages of 80 and 84, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The death marks the first in the US — with 11 other cases reported in the Sunshine State.
The coastal regions of Hillsborough, Lee, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa and St John’s counties have also reported cases.
Marion and Polk counties are the only ones with reported infections whose borders do not touch the ocean, but have brackish waterways that were likely harboring the bacteria.
Last year, five people in Florida died from Vibrio vulnificus, out of 33 reported cases in the state.
Often referred to as a “flesh-eating bacteria,” the infectious disease surges in the Sunshine State during June and September in Florida — peak beach and boating season — when people are enjoying the spoils of summer.
The bacteria live in coastal and brackish water and infect victims through ingestion or open wounds.
Symptoms include vomiting, stomach pain and swelling, but it can also lead to necrotizing fasciitis in serious cases, a severe infection in which the flesh around an open wound dies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“About 1 in 5 people with this infection die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill,” the CDC warned.
Many others suffer from limb amputation.
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