EXCLUSIVE: Doctors tell millions of Americans to beware going to beach this Labor Day weekend - a deadly fles - Daily Mail
- Doctors warned that any open wound posed a risk of infection with Vibrio
- Anyone unlucky enough to get cut by glass, stand on a nail should also seek help
- READ MORE: Two people in Connecticut die from bacteria in raw oysters
Millions of Americans are being told to be careful at the beach this Labor Day weekend due to the risk of catching a flesh-eating bacteria.
Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria that can enter open wounds and cause life-threatening infections, thrives in warm water and has been found on beaches from Florida to New Jersey and even as far north as Alaska.
Doctors told DailyMail.com anyone with an open wound — even a paper cut — should avoid swimming in areas where Vibrio vulnificus has been identified in order to avoid exposure.
Once confined to the Gulf of Mexico, the bacteria — which thrives in warm and brackish water — has now seeped into new areas because of rising sea temperatures.
In 2023, a total of nine deaths have been reported so far in Florida, New York and Connecticut. Scientists fear Vibrio could reach every US coastal state by the year 2040.
Labor Day weekend is expected to see half the US — 163million people — traveling, with many crowding onto beaches to soak up the last days of summer.
But some beachgoers may be unknowingly putting themselves at risk of infection with the bacteria, which coats hard surfaces like shells, rocks and spines on the sea floor.
If people go swimming with cuts or abrasions, even minor ones, they run the risk of Vibrio vulnificus getting into their wounds and eating away at their flesh.
Warning signs appear within hours, with patients suffering from redness and swelling around the infection site.
Without treatment, this can progress to necrosis — tissue death — and septicemia — a blood infection — putting patients at risk of limb amputations and death.
Swift administration of antibiotics is vital to treat the infection.
Healthy people are at low risk of an infection, doctors said, because their immune systems will likely be able to fight off the bacteria.
But those with weaker immune systems — like diabetics and cancer patients — are at a much higher risk of catching the disease.
About 30 percent of people who develop an infection from Vibrio vulnificus die from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Issuing his warning to Labor Day beachgoers, Dr Luis Ostrosky — an infectious disease expert at UTHealth Houston in Texas — said this was a 'very, very aggressive bacteria'.
He told DailyMail.com: 'If you have any cuts, don't go in the water.
'You should be very aware of cuts and not go in seawater if you have any of those.
'If you are immunocompromised, diabetic, or have liver cirrhosis, it is really not a great idea right now to go swimming [in the ocean].'
Less than 200 cases of infection with the bacteria were diagnosed in the US every year from before 2007 until 2017, when just over this number were recorded.
Studies suggest that by 2030 nearly 400 Americans will be sickened by the bacteria every year — more than double the level from the start of the century.
Dr James Diaz, an environmental expert at Louisiana State University Health in New Orleans who has been involved in several studies on Vibrio vulnificus, also warned about the risk of infection.
He told DailyMail.com: 'Any sort of wound, particularly an open wound, could lead to a [harmful] infection with Vibrio or with another bacteria.
'Often a minor wound in someone who is [healthy] would not be a problem, but we do see serious wounds even in these people that can lead to an infection'.
He warned people who suffered deep wounds while swimming, such as by accidentally standing on a sea urchin or stingray, were at risk of infection.
Sea urchins bury Vibrio-coated spines deep into a person's foot while stingrays can slice through the flesh like a 'stiletto knife' opening up a dangerous wound, he said.
People are also at risk of standing on shards of glass or nails under water, which can also open wounds that pose a risk for a Vibrio infection.
Dr Diaz said a previous patient of his died from a Vibrio infection because of a crab bite.
'The patient had liver cirrhosis and needed a liver transplant', he said. 'And he also lived on the Gulf Coast and loved to fish and loved to go out crabbing with the kids and grandkids.
'The transplant was a success, and he was on immunosuppressant medication to ensure his body accepted the new organ.
'But then he went crabbing and a crab bit him on the toe. The toe got infected, so we took the toe off, but then the infection moved further and we amputated part of the foot, and then part of the leg'.
He finished: 'We could not contain the infection and the patient died.'
Scientists say people can also get a Vibrio infection from consuming seafood contaminated with the bacteria, such as shellfish.
This is fatal in about 95 percent of cases, the CDC says, because the bacteria can survive stomach acid and cause an infection in the intestines.
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