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Warm Water Sparks Flesh-Eating Disease Warning in Florida
Jul 29, 2014, 12:12 PM ET
By KATIE MOISSE
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Health Editor
 

via Good Morning America

 

Florida health officials are warning beachgoers about a seawater bacterium that can invade cuts and scrapes to cause flesh-eating disease.

 

Vibrio vulnificus –- a cousin of the bacterium that causes Cholera –- thrives in warm saltwater, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If ingested, it can cause stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. But it can also infect open wounds and lead to “skin breakdown and ulceration,” according to the CDC.

 

“Since it is naturally found in warm marine waters, people with open wounds can be exposed to Vibrio vulnificus through direct contact with seawater,” the Florida Department of Health said in a statement.

 

The infection can also be transmitted through eating or handling contaminated oysters and other shellfish, according to the CDC.

 

At least 11 Floridians have contracted Vibrio vulnificus so far this year and two have died, according to the most recent state data. In 2013, 41 people were infected and 11 died. The proportion of skin and gastrointestinal infections in Florida is unclear, but a CDC spokesman said the ratio tends to be about 1-to-1.

 

Florida isn’t the only state to report Vibrio vulnificus infections. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi have also recorded cases, and a 2013 outbreak linked to contaminated shellfish sickened at least 104 people in 13 states, according to the CDC.

Most people who contract a Vibrio vulnificus infection recover with the help of antibiotics, but severe skin infections may require surgery and amputation, according to the CDC. People with weakened immune systems are also at risk for blood infections, which are fatal about 50 percent of the time, the CDC notes.

 

The CDC recommends the following precautions to avoid Vibrio vulnificus infections:

 

  • Avoid exposing open wounds to warm saltwater, brackish water or to raw shellfish
  • Wear protective clothing when handling raw shellfish
  • Cook shellfish thoroughly and avoid food contamination with juices from raw seafood
  • Eat shellfish promptly after cooking and refrigerate leftovers

 

Full article and video...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/warm-water-sparks-flesh-eating-disease-warning-florida/story?id=24755485

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That's the thing, I love the beach.  And I can't imagine living somewhere with bazillions of miles of coastline and so many great beaches, and not being able to go in the water.

 

That's the good thing about the beaches up here, I guess.  It's too bloody cold for anything to live in it besides delicious, edible sea creatures.

 

Nothing like going to the beach in July and having your ankles go numb.  :rofl2:

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These things are not to be taken lightly, I understand, and sensible precautions are approriate...don't go in the water with open wounds, cook food properly, etc. 

 

Having said that, 11 people in Florida so far this year out of how many have been in the water at the Florida beaches?  And let's not even start with what happens in public swimming pools all over the country.

 

You could also fall off the couch and break your neck and die.  That does not mean I plan to stay off the couch, esp with NFL coming!

 

I get it, I really do.  We need to know and act approriately, but the news media like to make everything a panic situation.  Over more than 30 years in broadcasting, I have heard many times the comment "Never let the facts get in the way of a good standup report!" 

 

Seems to me that awareness needs to be accompanied with some common sense. 

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Having said that, 11 people in Florida so far this year out of how many have been in the water at the Florida beaches?  And let's not even start with what happens in public swimming pools all over the country.

 

You could also fall off the couch and break your neck and die.  That does not mean I plan to stay off the couch, esp with NFL coming!

 

I get it, I really do.  We need to know and act approriately, but the news media like to make everything a panic situation. 

 

Seems to me that awareness needs to be accompanied with some common sense. 

 

^ALL THIS^

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Having grown up on the gulf coast of Florida I have never known anyone who has had any sort of skin infection from this. I have been in everything from hot stagnant brackish water to warm salt water with plenty of cuts, scrapes and full on gashes and have never had a problem.

Where I grew up if you were out on the boat, at the beach, or just working around the water and hurt yourself, the answer always was "rinse it off in the salt water itll be fine till you get home". When you got home (later that day, night or next day) you dump some peroxide on It maybe a little betadine if you had some laying around.

How I made it to 32 I have no idea, I should have had this, been eaten by a shark, maimed on a playground or one of the hundreds of things that have been deemed unsafe or life threatening in the past 10 years.

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Having grown up on the gulf coast of Florida I have never known anyone who has had any sort of skin infection from this. I have been in everything from hot stagnant brackish water to warm salt water with plenty of cuts, scrapes and full on gashes and have never had a problem.

Where I grew up if you were out on the boat, at the beach, or just working around the water and hurt yourself, the answer always was "rinse it off in the salt water itll be fine till you get home". When you got home (later that day, night or next day) you dump some peroxide on It maybe a little betadine if you had some laying around.

How I made it to 32 I have no idea, I should have had this, been eaten by a shark, maimed on a playground or one of the hundreds of things that have been deemed unsafe or life threatening in the past 10 years.

Maimed on a playground is a real thing man.

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I worry more about Ebola and whatever diseases are crossing our borders illegally.

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How I made it to 32 I have no idea, I should have had this, been eaten by a shark, maimed on a playground or one of the hundreds of things that have been deemed unsafe or life threatening in the past 10 years.

 

Well done, you!  :)

 

We just had to survive falling out of trees, being eaten alive by (presumably disease-ridden) mosquitoes, and the severe hypothermia that comes with going to the beach in New England in the middle of August.

 

Maimed on a playground is a real thing man.

 

Ouch.

 

Not nearly as severe, but my poor brother suffered the loss of 2 front teeth to an errant swing (that I'd just jumped off) and a pogo stick in the face (that one was on my sister). I just ended up with stitches from a badminton racquet to the forehead (again my sister).

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The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  I went to the beach in Hollywood yesterday and am still alive and nothing has fallen off yet.  I can also report that I did not see any medical waste, sharks, jellyfish, tar balls, Haitians swimming ashore or rotting whale carcasses.  When ever I see a reporter talking about germs and holding a Q-tip I know enough to change the channel.  That is the best thing I can do to maintain my health.

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And that brings up the liquid sanitizing overhype, what a bunch of baloney.

How in the world did we survive before they brainwashed us into thinking that all of sudden we need to slop that stuff on us 100 times a day? The only ones that benefit are the companies that sell it.

 

Good question, and I fully agree!

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And that brings up the liquid sanitizing overhype, what a bunch of baloney.

How in the world did we survive before they brainwashed us into thinking that all of sudden we need to slop that stuff on us 100 times a day? The only ones that benefit are the companies that sell it.

And the germs that become resistant or immune to it because of over exposure.

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