Five people were killed by the “flesh-eating bacteria” (or “Vibrio vulnificus”) in the United States where an alert has just been issued.
- Five people have been killed by “flesh-eating bacteria” in the United States.
- Typically, people infected with flesh-eating bacteria experience diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting.
- Flesh-eating bacteria are growing more and more due to global warming.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have just issued an emergency alert after five people were killed by “flesh-eating bacteria” (also called “Vibrio vulnificus”).
Health professionals are particularly invited by health authorities to consider this bacteria as a possible cause of wound infections in patients who have been exposed to waters near the Gulf of Mexico or the East Coast of the United States.
Flesh-eating bacteria can be fatal
People can be contaminated if they have a recent open wound (surgery, cut, scrape, tattoo) exposed to the bacteria or if they eat undercooked shellfish.
Typically, people infected with flesh-eating bacteria experience diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting. The infection can also cause chills and fever.
Wounds contaminated by Vibrio vulnificus are also characterized by a necrotizing evolution of the skin and soft tissues. If left untreated, it can spread and cause serious, potentially fatal blood poisoning.
Diabetes, liver diseases… The particularly dangerous flesh-eating bacteria
“Many people attacked by the bacteria require intensive care or surgical removal of tissue,” complete the CDC in their press release.
The infection is particularly dangerous for individuals with other underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, liver disease, or immunocompromised states.
Flesh-eating bacteria is growing due to global warming
Flesh-eating bacteria have an incubation period of a few days and grow more between May and October. They also tend to prefer low-salt marine environments such as estuaries.
Because flesh-eating bacteria prefer temperate waters, infection rates from this type of organism increased eightfold between 1988 and 2018 in the United States due to global warming.
Furthermore, they could also multiply on European coasts, particularly in the Mediterranean. Since the 2000s, the presence of Vibrio vulnificus has been detected several times in French waters. 32 cases of non-cholera vibrio infections (which include Vibiro vulnificus infection) were recorded in the latest Public Health France report on the subject.
