Deadly danger
These bacteria have a large arsenal of molecular munitions, including various toxins, all of which help the bacteria hijack cells, siphon nutrients, break down structural proteins, break down tissue linings, leak blood vessels, fuel destructive inflammation, suppress immune defenses, and generally lay their victims to waste.
Overall mortality rate V. vulnificus infections are about 35 percent. But for anyone infected with immunodeficiency or liver disease, the death rate is as high as 50 to 60 percent. Likewise, for those who develop sepsis—a life-threatening reaction to infection—death is also about 50 percent. For male patients in this situation, if antibiotics or surgical removal of necrotic tissue is delayed, mortality rises to 100 percent.
In this case, the person is not dead. But by the time he got to the hospital, his right leg was so far gone that it had to be amputated above the knee. Meanwhile, his arm required an extensive skin graft harvested from elsewhere on his body. After a regimen of antibiotics and six months of recovery, doctors said he was improving.
It was emphasized that the lawsuit is threatening V. vulnificus is only increasing in the face of climate change, and medical experts see its rise as an urgent public health problem. Warmer waters, geographic spread and increasing antibiotic resistance increase the risks. In the United States between 1998 and 2018 V. vulnificus It has increased eightfold, including the spread of the bacteria to areas considered rare, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
“Abundance and Geographical Range V. vulnificus It is predicted to increase due to factors related to climate change, including rising water temperatures, storm surges, changes in salinity and algal blooms,” the man’s doctors wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that a Vibrio infection, eat only thoroughly cooked seafood and wash your hands after handling raw seafood. If you have an open wound, keep it out of the salt water or at least cover it tightly. If injured while in salt water, or if an existing wound is open, wash it with soap and clean running water.
