An increase in flesh - eat bacterial infection has been reported in Florida amid the radioactive dust of Hurricane Ian which tear through the body politic late last month , lead in over 100 deaths and a hell of a raft to clean up .
TheFlorida Department of Healthreports 65 cases ofVibrio vulnificusinfection and 11 deaths in the commonwealth this year as of Friday , October 14 , up from 34 cases and 10 deaths reported statewide in the whole of 2021 .
Up to 29 of the vitrine and four fatalities were seen in Lee County , which experience ruinous impact from Ian , in particular due tostorm billow .
V. vulnificusis a bacteria that usually live in tender , brackish seawater . In the last week of September 2022,Hurricane Ianstruck Florida cause sewage water to mix with the coastal piddle , increasing levels of this of course occurring bacterium . The photoflood waters also meant that more people were wading through the water and coming into contact with the pathogen .
V. vulnificuscan taint the dead body by entering through an loose wound , cutting , or scraping . There areeven cases of peoplefalling sick with the transmission after float in the sea with a freshly ink tattoo . Once the bacteria have entered the body , it ensue in an passing awful infection that can causenecrotizing fasciitiswhere the flesh is efficaciously “ consume ” away by the bacterium .
The bacterium can overrun the blood stream , causing a severe life - threatening illness with symptoms like febrility , quiver , hazardously low blood atmospheric pressure , and blister skin lesions . There is also the problem of seafood pollute with the bacteria , which can lead to watery diarrhoea , breadbasket cramping , nausea , vomiting , and fever .
Many people with the contagion involve intensive care or limb amputation and it can demonstrate fatal in about 1 in 5 cases , harmonise to theCDC . The disease can chance on promptly with fatalities often occurring in just a match of days . Although considered uncommon , it cause an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 expiry in the US each year
V. vulnificusis often reported in the Gulf of Mexico , especially around thispart of the Southeast US . It ’s notable that the act of case has increased by 41 percent between 1996 and 2005 . This has beenblamed onthe increase brininess gradient of the pee , as well as increased water temperature stimulate by climate change .
With globose temperatures place to increase further , many arealso anticipatingan increase inV. vulnificuscases . Paired with this , the climate crisis is alsoset to make hurricanesmore intense , more potential to tarry over realm , and all the more withering .
